TEEN WHO SHOT GIRL GETS 5 YEARS

Boy Conspired To Hide Neighbor's Body In Northern Wisconsin

A teenager who fatally shot a neighbor girl while high from marijuana,
then conspired with his mother and others to bury the body in northern
Wisconsin, was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison followed by
11 years of community supervision.

"It's a case of drugs, a loaded weapon and death," Milwaukee County
Circuit Judge John J. DiMotto said before sentencing Brian Vrana, who
was 14 at the time of the shooting. "It's a recipe for disaster that I
have see all too often."

And even though Vrana, now 16, wasn't being sentenced for it Thursday,
DiMotto agreed with a prosecutor who said the case was also about the
despicable disposal of the dead girl's body.

"This wasn't a burial," Assistant District Attorney Steve Licata
noted. "This was like what you do with garbage."

Vrana was sentenced after the girl's mother said her daughter's killer
deserved a chance to prove himself instead of being locked up with a
long prison term.

"I know that Brian is a friend, and he would not intentionally hurt
her," Tina Drapp told DiMotto.

Vrana was sentenced in adult court by DiMotto on a charge of
second-degree reckless homicide while armed. He was sentenced in an
earlier proceeding to three years at Ethan Allen School in Wales, a
juvenile correctional facility, on a children's court charge of hiding
a corpse.

Vrana shot and killed Angela Velzka-Lawrence with a gun he thought was
unloaded while they and several other teens were partying in Vrana's
home. Several people discussed what to do before he, his mother, Susan
Marie Vrana, another teenage boy and family friend Shane Pfennig,
loaded the girl's body into a van and drove north, where they buried
it.

Pfennig, 25, of South Milwaukee, pleaded guilty to hiding a corpse and
was subsequently sentenced to one year in jail and five years of probation.

Susan Vrana, 41, pleaded guilty to the same charge and is awaiting
sentencing.

The other teenager is awaiting prosecution in children's court.

Brian Vrana admittedly was a marijuana dealer at the time of the
slaying in July 2000 and shot Velzka-Lawrence with a pistol he
possessed to protect himself from being robbed by people who knew he
was a drug dealer, according to Licata.

Vrana also had a long history of regularly using alcohol and drugs
including marijuana, Ecstasy and OxyContin since the age of 13,
DiMotto noted.

After the body was buried in Marinette County, the disappearance of
Velzka-Lawrence remained a mystery until July 2001, when Pfennig
helped lead police to the girl's shallow grave. Authorities said at
least 13 people knew of the girl's fate but kept the death a secret
until Pfennig and another person came forward.

The Vranas kept the matter a secret despite living next-door to the
dead girl's family.

"She was like a sister to me," Brian Vrana insisted in court Thursday.
"I loved her with all my heart."