FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida jury has convicted a teenager of aggravated battery in an attack on a middle school classmate who was drenched in alcohol and set on fire.
The six jurors reached the verdict Tuesday in the trial of 17-year-old Matthew Bent. Bent was accused of orchestrating the 2009 attack on Michael Brewer, who was then 15. Brewer suffered severe burns but survived after jumping into a swimming pool.
Bent was charged with attempted second-degree murder, but the jury had the option of convicting him on a lesser charge.
Two other teens pleaded no contest earlier and are serving prison sentences. One testified that Bent offered him cash to douse Brewer with a jug of rubbing alcohol. Bent’s attorneys insisted he did not plot the attack.
Brewer testified that the confrontation started after Bent tried to force him to buy a marijuana pipe.
