Judge rejects bid for reversal of Abraham's conviction

Associated Press - 5/4/00

DETROIT (AP) -- The judge who presided over the trial of one of the nation's youngest murder defendants on Thursday denied a defense motion for a new trial.

Oakland County Family Court Judge Eugene Moore rejected arguments by defense attorney Geoffrey Fieger on behalf of Nathaniel Abraham. A jury last November convicted the Pontiac boy of second-degree murder in the October 1997 shooting death of 18-year-old Ronnie Greene Jr.

Fieger said he was considering whether to appeal.

Abraham, 11 at the time Greene was killed, was the youngest person to be charged as an adult with first-degree murder under a 1997 Michigan law allowing adult prosecutions of children of any age in certain serious felony cases.

In arguing for reversal of the murder conviction, Fieger repeated several arguments made during and immediately after the trial, including:

--There was overwhelming evidence that Abraham did not possess and could not form the intent to kill Greene. Moore said Fieger provided "no factual or legal authority to support this argument" and said the courts are not responsible for finding such support on their own.

--Prosecutors failed to prove the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Moore ruled that Greene's death involved all elements of second-degree murder and were supported by witness and expert testimony.

--The jury handed down a "repugnant verdict" -- finding Abraham guilty of shooting Greene but acquitting him of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Moore cited a Michigan Supreme Court ruling that stated juries "are not held to any rules of logic, nor are they required to explain their decisions." Moore speculated that Abraham's jury "might wish to temper its verdict with leniency" in finding the boy innocent of a lesser crime while convicting him of a more serious one.

"We were quite confident all along that the allegations made by Nate's attorneys were unfounded and without merit, as Judge Moore concluded," Prosecutor David Gorcyca said. "It was our belief that the conviction was factually and legally firm and will easily withstand judicial scrutiny throughout the appellate process."

Fieger said he had not decided whether to appeal Moore's ruling. But he said the goal of making Abraham a productive member of society would be thwarted as long as the murder conviction remained part of his record.

Moore in January sentenced Abraham to juvenile custody until his 21st birthday. Fieger said most young adults leaving the juvenile justice system have no formal criminal record, but that would not apply to Abraham because of his adult murder conviction.

"How does he get a job, go in the Army? He can't," Fieger said. "The theory of juvenile justice is to get a fresh start ... but at 18 or 21, he's going to come out with a second-degree murder conviction. How does society expect him to overcome that? You're hamstringing him and making it impossible for him to do what you want him to do.

"It's a Catch-22 he can never overcome."

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