A Howard District judge denied bail Tuesday to the 18-year-old Columbia man charged in the fatal beating of Robert Brazell.
Because of the nature and severity of the charges against Kevin Klink, a former wrestling champion, “the court believes at this time that the defendant should continue to be held without bond,” Judge Neil Axel said.
Klink, a 2006 graduate of Oakland Mills High School, is accused of striking Brazell in the head with an aluminum baseball bat during a brawl late Friday and early Saturday morning at Mount Hebron High School involving at least 20 people, according to court records.
Brazell, 18, who attended Mount Hebron until he withdrew in December 2006, died Sunday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
Klink appeared on closed-circuit television in the hearing Tuesday, wearing an orange jumpsuit and wincing slightly as the judge read his charges: first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
He spoke only when Axel asked him if he had been read his charges beforehand.
“Yes I have, your honor,” Klink said.
Klink?s attorney, Don Discepolo, called the charging documents “defective,” saying Howard County police had not respected his client?s Miranda rights when they arrested him Sunday night at a gas station on Route 40.
He also said Klink?s actions ? as alleged in the charging document ? did not indicate premeditation. Police and prosecutors would not comment.
Discepolo portrayed Klink as one of dozens embroiled in a “melee” on an athletic field at Mount Hebron. “There could have been any number of scenarios,” he said.
Assistant State?s Attorney Susan Weinstein said Klink told police he had “struck an unarmed male from behind with an aluminum baseball bat,” and then led police to the spot where he dropped it.
She also said Klink and the others left Brazell injured in a field and never placed a call for help.
Klink is being held at Howard County Detention Center. He is due in court March 27.
