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Community laments path of 2 teens
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Kevin Klink, left, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter charges in the death of Robert Brazell Jr., right.
Howard County (Map, News) - Neighbors, students and school officials lamented the loss of two teen’s futures after a Columbia wrestling champion admitted Tuesday to killing a student by striking him with a baseball bat.
Kevin Klink, 19, faces at least 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and dangerous weapon charges.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 26 in Howard Circuit Court for the death of Robert Brazell Jr. during a late-night melee involving about 20 teens Feb. 24 at Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City.
“It’s just so sad that one kid is taking the blame for all of them,” said Mary Ann Carroll, 39, a neighbor of the Klink family on Allview Drive.
“It didn’t seem premeditated ... You hate to see someone so young have their life cut short.”
Neighbors said Klink still holds records at the local swimming pool. His former wrestling coach Brad Howell at Oakland Mills High declined comment.
Two fingerprints on the bat handle were linked to Klink using DNA, and Brazell’s DNA was found on the head of the same bat, according to court records.
Prosecutors agreed to the plea deal, because witnesses said Klink was defending his friend, who also was being pummeled.
But witnesses said Klink used a “homerun” swing to strike Brazell from behind in the head, which prosecutors called “an amount of force which was objectively unreasonable in his defense of another,” according to court records.
Klink admitted to police that he hit someone but struck what he thought was the male’s shoulder area, according to court records.
Former Mount Hebron High student Brazell, 17, died at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore City.
“I think we were all in shock that something like that could happen on the grounds of Mount Hebron,” said Mount Hebron senior Allie Birmingham.
“But it was one of those things that could have happened anywhere.”
Tony Culler, president of the Mount Hebron High School PTA, who has children in ninth and 12th grades, said this incident should show youths that fights are unnecessary.
“It’s unfortunate that a kid had to die and now another kid has to spend 13 years behind bars for something that could have been avoidable,” he said.
Neither the Klink nor Brazell family could not be reached for comment. Klink is being held without bond at the county Detention Center.
Klink could have served life in prison for first-degree murder, but because of the plea agreement he faces ten years for the manslaughter charge and three years for the weapons charge.
cpeirce@baltimoreexaminer.com
jkowalkowski@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
3:09 PM MST on Mon., Feb. 11, 2008 re: "Community laments path of 2 teens"
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Examiner Reader said:
Mary Ann Carroll needs to have her head examined. "It's a shame he's taking the blame?" Mary Ann what you are failing to see is Kevin is the one that chose to take a baseball bat to someone's skull and strike them with so much force it killed him. She should think a little more before making a statement to the press. The entire event is unfortunate and all involved are guilty of stupidity.However, Kevin Klink is solely responsible for taking another persons life.
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Examiner Reader said:
Too bad we don't actually use the death penalty. Klink deserves it. The parents of both victim and attacker should be put behind bars. Call it "Gross Parental Negligance". The saddest thing of all is the amount of teens that were involved who lack character and conviction.
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Examiner Reader said:
what a disgusting comment and proof to why these kids went bad in the first place. Premeditation is on the part of a huge gang of kids that prepared and gathered weapons and gathered forces to attack and then traveled to and then called to instigate and draw out the other kids ( who were not prepared) on their own high school field. Instantly outnumbered and outraged at the sign of weapons they stood and fought and watched one of their own,go down in a senseless act of violence ( a picture of their friend in a pool of blood etched in their memories for the rest of their lives)and yet when the very weapons that the misguided youths brought were in turn used on them in an act of self defense a question is still asked why more aren't in jail? Then all those present should go to jail including the poor child Jacob who also suffered because in essence if the table were turned and Jacob was the better fighter then Lehnhoff would have been hurt.
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Moose said:
'Informed Reader': Does it really matter if he was struck 3 times or only once? Apparently you hang out with these thugs. Anyone involved with this brawl should be in jail...3 swings or 1
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informed reader said:
Dear examiner, you need to get your facts straight. jacob was struck only once, and his marijuana charges.. really, did we need to incude that? maybe he's just acting out because of the trauma endured. brazell was struck three times and was a high-school drop out and a druggie. However, because his parents pulled the plug he gets to look like the good guy. My sympathies to his family for their loss but he endangered his own life by attending this fight. My only question is why isn't that Lehnhoff kid in jail too.. Kevin Klink still is, and there was a possibly that Jacob could have died that night too. He did suffer an epidurmal hematoma to the left temporal lobe.
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