The judge described Robert Brazell Jr.'s death as a "totally senseless tragedy."

Prosecutor Danielle Duclaux, in fact, couldn't even give the judge a reason for the fight that led to the teenager's killing.

"I don't really understand why I'm standing here," Duclaux said, calling Brazell's death foolish and tragic. "There doesn't seem to be any good reason why this happened."

Yesterday, Kevin Francis Klink, the Howard County teenager who had pleaded guilty to killing Brazell by hitting him on the head with a baseball bat last year, was sentenced to serve 13 years in prison by Howard County Circuit Judge Lenore R. Gelfman.

Family members of Brazell and Klink filled the Ellicott City courtroom as Gelfman sentenced the Columbia man to the maximum of 10 years for voluntary manslaughter and three years for a dangerous-weapon charge.

Klink, 19, pleaded guilty last month to killing Brazell, 18, of Ellicott City, during a brawl about 12:30 a.m. Feb. 24, 2007, that involved nearly two dozen teenagers at the football stadium of Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City.

Prosecutors said Klink, who was 18 at the time, hit Brazell in the back of the head with an aluminum baseball bat because he wanted to protect a friend who he thought was in danger. In a statement of facts, however, prosecutors said that Klink "used an amount of force which was objectively unreasonable in his defense of another."

Klink had originally been charged with murder. Gelfman said it was "appropriate that the state amended the charge to voluntary manslaughter," adding, "I believe this plea agreement is a fair plea agreement."

But after the sentencing, Brazell's father said justice was not served.

"The facts don't mean nothing when you bring a bat to a fight," said Robert Brazell Sr., referring to Klink's high school athletic accomplishments. The 2006 Oakland Mills High School graduate was co-captain of the wrestling team.

"He took a young man's life. ... At the end of the day, his parents are still going to have their son," Brazell said.

He said the younger Brazell was his only son, and that there is no one is left to "carry the name for our family."

But in court, Brazell said one blessing that has come out of his son's death is that his organs have saved the lives of five people, including an infant girl who received part of his liver.

"There's five other people out there that Robby lives through," Brazell told the judge.

"He should still be with us today," Brazell said. "It just hurts so bad."

Klink, dressed in a dark suit and tie, briefly addressed the court. His attorney, Samuel Truette, said his client did not plan to kill anyone that night, but rather, attended the fight out of curiosity.

"I never intended or hoped for this to happen," Klink said. "I am very sorry."

His mother cried as she apologized to the Brazell family during the hearing.

"Our family's thoughts and prayers have been with them over the past year," Patricia McAleer, Klink's mother, told the judge. She said the ordeal has "crushed the dreams, hopes and aspirations we held in out hearts for our sons.

"I know he regrets being on that field."

Duclaux said teenagers associated with Mount Hebron High School, including Brazell, had gone to the fight after an underage drinking party. Brazell dropped out of Mount Hebron High in December 2006.

Duclaux said there was no evidence that Klink had been drinking.

"We kind of had to piece together what happened on that field," she said after the hearing.

In a statement of facts, prosecutors say the group of male students from Mount Hebron High who were attending the party less than a mile away from the incident, and which was later busted by police, were exchanging phone calls with an Atholton High School student. They were trying to set up a rematch of a fight five days earlier. Prosecutors say they don't know why that fight started.

About 15 Mount Hebron boys left the party and walked to the high school to fight the other teens, several of whom were students at Hammond High School.

At some point during the fight, Klink hit Brazell with the bat, and he immediately dropped to the ground, according to the statement. Police later found two of Klink's fingerprints and Brazell's DNA on the bat, which they found at the high school.

Two other teens were injured during the brawl. The case of another teenager who is thought to have started the fight is being handled in the juvenile system. According to court documents, he repeatedly struck another teen in the stomach with a baseball bat and hit two others, leaving one with permanent brain damage.

tyeesha.dixon@baltsun.com