Protest planned before court appearance for woman charged in Hamilton fatal shooting
Jun. 10—Family and friends of a teen shot and killed in December at a Hamilton home plan to protest today before the court appearance of the woman charged with his death.
Aerial Katelynn Brazzell, 21, is accused of killing Bennie Shaun Boggs Jr., 16, on Dec. 17. Boggs was shot at 1:20 a.m. at her residence in the 200 block of Cereal Avenue. She was indicted for reckless homicide in February by a Butler County grand jury.
Hamilton police say Brazzell was "playing with a firearm pointing it at the victim and discharged the firearm striking the victim in the head."
Reckless homicide is a third-degree felony with a maximum sentence of 36 months in prison. Brazzell is free on $35,000 bond.
She is expected to plead guilty as charged today in Butler Common Plea Judge Jennifer McElfresh's courtroom.
Stephanie Gill, Boggs' mother, said the charge and possible sentence is not enough for killing her son.
"We are trying to get justice for him because nobody will even acknowledge him. My son didn't deserve this, they're putting him on trial when he's the victim," Gill said. She said her son she called "J.R." was shot in the back of the head nearly six months ago and still no justice and "there is more to what happened."
"She shot my son and killed him and she's only looking at maybe probation or 36 months. He was 16 years old. He was still a child and deserves to have justice for what happened to him," Gill said.
Gill said she also does not believe the investigation was conducted properly.
"I just think more could have been done in how things were handled," she said. She noted she also thought the notification for her son's death also wasn't handled very compassionately.
Gill said she has been shot at twice leaving her house and has tried to get people to talk about what happened on the night her son was killed.
"I really think that there's more to what this than what they are saying," Gill said. "None of it makes sense to me."
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser told the Journal-News that Brazzell is expected to plead guilty to the third-degree felony. Sentencing will be at the discretion of the judge.
Gmoser said this case could have been indicted as a misdemeanor negligent homicide "and it would be treated like a hunting incident in which somebody shoots their friend by accident."
Boggs brought the gun that killed him to the residence where five people, including Brazzell, met up, "there is no evidence of animosity, hatred, argument or problems between him and the girl who shoots him," Gmoser said. "She is looking at the gun. She is handling the gun and in the course of handling the gun, he is sitting across the room in a chair and she pulls the trigger in the mishandling of this firearm, the bullet hits him in the head and he is dead."
The prosecutor said under these circumstances there is no evidence of purposeful killed or that Brazzell knowingly assaulted him that would make the act a felony murder crime. The evidence shows Brazzell was mishandling a firearm recklessly, Gmoser said.
