Teen accused of killing Bradley Hulett warned ‘screw around again and I’m not going to be so forgiving’
TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa teenager Christopher Ramsey Bevan avoided a felony charge in the shooting death of his friend. Instead, he caught a huge break and was placed on supervised probation for three years.
But halfway through the program, Bevan was busted for breaking the rules and failing a drug test. Thursday morning, he was back in court and the judge was not happy to see him.
Prosecutors, with the blessing of the victim's family, agreed to another round of pretrial intervention also known as PTI, instead of going to trial. But, Tampa judge Robin Fuson, early on, wasn’t on board.
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"You don’t get into this program unless I approve of it and right now, I am not happy with you," warned Judge Fuson.
Judge Fuson ordered that Bevan be taken into custody. He was handcuffed, to the dismay of his attorney, who shook his head in disagreement, and eventually escorted out of the courtroom to think about what he had done. It's a legal curveball no one saw coming Anthony Rickman, an attorney representing the victim's family, explained.
"Quite frankly he is blowing that opportunity right now by testing positive," Rickman said.
Back in December 2019, 15-year-old Bradley Hulett and his best friend, who is the son of Tampa police officer Edwin Perez, were at his home along with Bevan and another boy. The teens, while home alone, found a gun.
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Pictured: Bradley Hulett
Bevan wanted to go and scare Hulett, who was playing a video game in another room, when he was shot and killed.
Bevan was arrested and charged with manslaughter at the time. But later, it was determined there was a design defect with a gun used in Hulett's case that caused it to fire without the trigger being pulled.
The gun manufacturer was facing multiple lawsuits around the country and later the Hulett's would file their own. The teen's parents would also agree to give Bevan something rare – a second chance with PTI explained Meghan Hulett.
"We never wanted to see Ramsey spend a lengthy amount of time in jail," she said.
But 21 months later, Bevan was back looking for another break. He would get it, along with a stern warning from the court.
"You screw around again, and I’m not going to be so forgiving. You had an opportunity to stay out of trouble, and you did something really stupid within your control not to do," Fuson said.
And with that, Judge Fuson excepted the agreement, that will tack on 36 more months of supervised intervention. If he breaks another rule, Bevan could face criminal charges.