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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A judge sentenced 14-year-old Nathaniel Brazill to 28 years in prison Friday for fatally shooting his favorite teacher between the eyes on the last day of school – far less than the maximum he could have received of life without parole. 

Brazill, who was tried as an adult, had faced a minimum of 25 years behind bars for killing Barry Grunow at Lake Worth Middle School more than a year ago. 

Wearing a bright red jumpsuit and shackles, the boy said nothing and his face conveyed the same blank expression it bore throughout his trial as Circuit Judge Richard Wennet handed down the sentence, which carries no possibility of parole or time off for good behavior. 

“I can tell you he’s pleased. Nathaniel just wanted to know if there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” defense attorney Robert Udell said. 

The sentence shocked some relatives of the victim, who had warned that the boy is a danger to society and should be put away for the rest of his life. 

The case – along with the life sentence given earlier this year to 14-year-old Lionel Tate, who said he was imitating pro wrestlers when he beat a 6-year-old girl to death — has renewed criticism of a tough-on-crime Florida law that allows prosecutors to try juveniles as adults and subject them to mandatory prison sentences. 

Brazill’s lawyer said the boy will appeal and, after the process is complete, ask the governor for clemency if necessary. 

“I think the sentence was fair,” Gov. Jeb Bush said in Jacksonville. “It really doesn’t matter what I think so much as there is an appeals process. Lawyers for the boy will be able to make that appeal and the process will go forward as it normally does.” 

In imposing the sentence, the judge had to decide whether the teen could be rehabilitated. But he offered no explanation for how he arrived at the 28-year sentence. 

The judge ordered the teen to take an anger management course and spend two years in a form of house arrest after doing his time in prison. He also received five years’ probation. 

Brazill was convicted in May of second-degree murder for killing the 35-year-old English teacher he called a “great man and a great teacher.” The boy was 13 when he committed the crime. 

The boy had returned to school after being suspended by a counselor earlier that day for throwing water balloons. He shot Grunow after the teacher refused to let the seventh-grader talk to two girls in his class. 

At his trial, Brazill had insisted that he only meant to scare the teacher and that the gun went off accidentally. 

Prosecutor Marc Shiner had asked for a life sentence without parole Friday, saying, “That’s the only way we can be sure he won’t hurt someone again.” 

Kay Grunow, the victim’s sister, said she was “extremely disappointed” with the sentence, calling it “an insult to Barry’s memory.” 

Grunow’s widow, Pam, was not there Friday. On Thursday, she told the judge “I do not have the wisdom” to decide what price the boy should pay. 

At the same hearing, Brazill apologized for the crime, saying: “Words cannot really explain how sorry I am, but they’re all I have.” 

His mother, Polly Powell, sobbed as she pleaded for mercy Thursday. “Nathaniel is my first born and I love him like nobody else can,” she said. Before the trial, she had rejected a plea bargain of 25 years offered by prosecutors. 

Florida is one of 15 states that give prosecutors the discretion to send juveniles to adult court, according to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. 

James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University, called Brazill’s sentence excessive but said it reflects the public’s mood. “Americans do not want to diminish criminal responsibility because the criminals are teens,” he said.