Despite all the hype, Abraham got a fair trial, but nobody wins


By Pete Waldmeir / The Detroit News

    Let's get a few things straight about the controversial jury verdict which this week convicted 13-year-old Nathaniel Abraham of murdering Ronnie Greene Jr. when Master Nate was but a tyke of 11.
    First and foremost, there are no winners in this one. Not the prosecution, not the defense, not the two families who have lost their sons and certainly not the criminal justice system. The only one who comes close to even a modest triumph is Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca, the man who made the decision to try Abraham as an adult.
    But even then, this victory has to be bittersweet. Who wants his name in the record book as the first Oakland County prosecutor to send a child that young to jail for life -- a sentence that Family Court Judge Eugene Moore could hand down on Dec. 14?
    Gorcyca, who must stand for re-election to a second four-year term in November 2000, has said repeatedly that he doesn't want that to happen.
    Like Abraham's mom, Gorcyca wants the youngster to get help. In fact, Judge Moore is likely to levy a "blended" sentence, which will keep Nate in the juvenile lockup until he's 21 and reassess his rehabilitation along the way. At 21, he could go free or go on to adult jail. Moore has those options under the 1997 law that allowed Gorcyca to charge Abraham as an adult, despite his youth.
    Defense attorney Geoffrey Fieger? Credit him with taking his best shot in a hopeless situation. He didn't have much to work with. The prosecution didn't beat him, the evidence did. And please, do not take this as an affirmation of Fieger's methods or courtroom demeanor. His characterization of Gorcyca and the jury participating in the "brutalization" of a child is particularly repulsive.
    Somebody loaded, aimed and shot the rifle that killed Ronnie Greene Jr. It wasn't Peter Pan. However, I'll repeat here what I said before the trial: If I had a child or anyone else facing murder charges, I'd call Fieger in a New York minute. As thoroughbred racing buffs like to say, there are "horses for courses."
    The best he could do in defense of young Mr. Abraham was damage control. And he did manage to convince the jury that there was no first-degree intent, by presenting psychologists who testified a boy of Abraham's age and mental state didn't have the capacity to plan and execute a murder as an adult would. That resulted in the lesser second-degree conviction.
    In case you missed it, 11-year-old Nate Abraham in October 1997 took a beat-up rifle and decided to shoot up his Pontiac neighborhood.
    He plinked a few street lights, missed one bystander and then, for some reason, fired at Greene, striking him in the head. Greene, 18, died the next day. Nate was arrested at school, dressed for a Halloween party, and languished in juvenile custody for two years awaiting trial. He'd had other brushes with the law and social services. The prosecution took its time gathering evidence, and he got a fair trial.
    What Nate may not have got, however, was help at home when he really needed it. How does a kid get so out of control at 11? I had four at that age, in different generations spanning the past four decades.
    I lived with a single (divorced) mom when I was 11. The easiest thing, it seems, is to blame his reckless killing on some faceless "system" that failed. I don't buy that. And I'll bet if you asked around, other parents don't, either.
   
    Pete Waldmeir will be on vacation until Sunday, Nov. 28. His e-mail address is PWaldmeir@aol.com