matthew bent and michael brewer, now 17, were once friends. but in october of 2009, prosecutors say a group of boys, led by bent surrounded brewer. and at bent's suggestion doused him in rubbing alcohol and set him on fire. >> i'm going to tell you to hold matthew bent responsible for his actions. >> reporter: the defense argues bent was at the scene but never told anywhere to set brewer on fire. >> the individuals who committed this crime pled guilty to this crime and have been sentenced for this crime. >> two other teens charged as adults in the attack. they pled no contest and are serving prison time. they are expected to testify against bent. the boys had a disagreement over a stolen bicycle and video game. brewer survived by jumping into a neighbor's pool. he suffered burns over 75% of his body. his mother recounted the moment after his attack. >> laying on the gurney. he's got blisters all over him. >> reporter: michael brewer will also take the stand. his family says he's anxious to tell his story. michael bent is being tried as an adul

of the rings leader of the attack. >> reporter: from the witness stand michael brewer told his story to jurors. >> they set me on fire. >> reporter: the horror of a 17-year-old whose burned arms and legs will forever be scarred. >> the defendant is guilty of aggravated battery. >> reporter: this week 17-year-old matthew bent was convicted of aggravated battery. brewer's family says they're satisfied with the verdict, even though bent was not convicted of the original charge, attempted murder. his mother spoke to nbc news. >> it's justice. that's what we were going after was getting some justice for what happened to michael. >> reporter: prosecutors described matthew bent as the mastermind who organized the fire attack because brewer owed him $40. brewer denied he owed him anything. this summer will include a vacation for brewer but also more therapy. doctors say he'll need medical attention for the rest of his life. >> the scars that michael has are not just physical. he has deep emotional scars that may never go away. every time he looks in the mirror, he's reminded of what happened

did matthew bent specifically intend to burn michael brewer?t is the only issue in this case, and attacking the victim is not going to help. jenna: and, john, a quick final thought on that, would you actually put matthew on the stand to answer a direct question, did you intend to kill michael? would you have him answer that directly in court before closing arguments which could be, potentially, today? >> no. because under florida statute they do not have a specific intent law, and i think if he's convicted -- look, the attempted murder charge assumes in florida that he wanted to do, the consequences were a part of his actions. there's no specific intent jury instruction like in california, so it's very dangerous to put him up on that stand. i think he's going to be convicted because of the law was i -- because i believe the law's invalid on its face. but on appeal they could argue mr. bent didn't have the specific intent to kill him and, hopefully, if it's overruled, yes, that testimony may be helpful on appeal. but for this trial i don't think

. >>> the trial of the brutal attack on michael brewer is under way.e, good morning, the attack in 2009 left michael brewer severely burned, scarring more than half his body, he had to endure a painful recovery and now is in court to face the teenager accused 6 instigating the attack. math my bent and michael brewer, now 17, were once friends, but in october of 2009, prosecutors say a group of boys led by bent surrounded brewer, and at bent's suggestion doused him in rubbing alcohol and set him on fire. >> i'm going to tell you to hold matthew bent responsible for his actions. >> the defense argues bent was at the scene, but never told anyone to set brewer on fire. >> the individuals who committed this crime pled guilty to this crime, and have been sentenced for this crime. two other teens were charged as adults in the attack. defer jarvis and jesus mendez pled for contest and are serving prison time. they're expected to testify against bent. police say brewer and the boys have a disagreement over a stolen bicycle and $40 video game. brewer survived by

michael brewer explaining the horror that he felt in the moment back in 2009 when he realized he was burning. >> i just remember a cold liquid going down my back and i started walking and i started feeling burning, and then i started running. >> did you see it at any point or after you felt the cold liquid, did you see him with stuff, with a jug or anything like that? >> no. >> okay. you started feeling the burning at that point? >> yes. >> what did you do? >> i started running towards the pool, then i jumped a fence and dove into a swimming pool. i felt like i was going to die. >> matthew bent is on trial for attempted second degree murder. he faces up to 30 years in prison. the prosecutor say he set brewer on fire because he was angry at the middle schooler for refusing to buy drug paraphernalia from him. >>> a climber on mt. hood has fallen 1,000 feet to his death. fellow climbers saw 56-year-old mark cartier take a bad fall yesterday. as soon as rescuers reached cartier, there was heartbreak. >> the training and everything that you've learned over the years just kind of kicks in

for the first time since he was severely burned, 14-year-old michael jackson brewer testified againsteenager accused of being the ringleader on the stand. at times he was frustrated about the attack and surprisingly admitted he lied about some of the stories. minutes after michael brewer took the witness stand thursday, he described the events in 2009 that led to him being set on fire. >> i just remember a cold liquid going down my back. i started walking and i started feeling burning, then i started running. >> reporter: with flame on his body, brewer ran to a nearby pool and jumped in. >> i could see skin hanging from my arms. i thought i was going to die. >> reporter: prosecutors claim now 17-year-old matthew bent charged with second degree murder instigated the attack, that he offered money to other teens to douse brewer in rubbing alcohol. the defense countered on cross-examination. >> you at no time ever heard him tell anybody to pour anything on you, did you? >> no, i didn't. >> you at no time ever saw him or heard him tell anybody to set you afire, did you? >> no, i didn't. >>

tuesday of aggravated battery instead of murder for encouraging two friends to douse classmate michael brewerhew bent now faces up to 15 years in prison for the 2009 attack. the victim was burned over 65% of his body. >>> now here is brian williams with what's coming up tonight on "nbc nightly news." brian. >> reporter: hey, natalie, good morning. coming up on "nightly news," we are going to continue our featured reporting by kate snow on a new epidemic so many folks living in the suburb know about, that is the return of heroin and some staggering amounts that may surprise a lot of folks. we'll continue that tonight. for now natalie back to you. >> all right, brian, thanks. for what's trending, quick roundup of what has you talking online. nba finals dominating google, facebook, twitter. the miami heat victory three games to lead over the oklahoma city thunder. the heat's lebron james championship he's been chasing for nearly a decade. >>> johnny depp is the top search on yahoo! after splitting up with his girlfriend of 14 years. they have two children together. depp's publicist says the part

jarvis previously pled no contest to an attempted murder charge in the 2009 beening of michael brewer. he admitted to dousing guer with rubbing alcohol. >> i pour the liquid on him and he just stand there. >> reporter: they say it was matthew zek bent on trial for second degree attempted murder who planted the seed. >> he said i'll give you 25d if you throw down michael. >> reporter: drenched in the flammable liquid, jarvis said he then went to claim his money. >> i go to the apartment and go over to him. he reach into his pocket to get his money and i see everybody running. i looked back to see why everybody's running and i see him on fire. >> reporter: another teen-ager, jesus mendes, admitted to flicking the lighter that set him on fire. he ran to a pool and jumped in. he suffered severe burns to 65% of his body. m mendes said he had trouble remembering the incident on the stand wednesday. >> do you remember who you were with when you left school that day? >> no. >> do you remember where you went after school that day? >> no. >> reporter: to help jog his memory, prosecutors played

matthew bin was convicted of aggravated battery for encouraging two friends to attack 15-year-old michael brewerer and another set him on fire with a cigarette lighter. brewer saved himself by jumping in a swimming pool. he testified in bin's trial. >> i just remember a cold liquid going down my back and i started walking and i started feeling burning. i started running towards the pool and then i jumped a fence and dove into the swimming pool. i felt like i was going to die. >> the other two boys pleaded no contest to attacking brewer and are in prison. both testified in matthew bent's trial. >>> and the dow is down 221 points, tanking, obviously, on some weak manufacturing reports here. cnn's ali velshi is saying an economic storm would be coming, so we've been crunching some numbers here, and there is one stat that really stands out. and, sorry, folks, it's not a good sign. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed

michael smerconish. three provisions struck down, the most controversial upheld. jan brewer says it is vindication, despite the fact that not every republican even sees this as vindication of this law. what do you say, michael? you're an attorney here. >> i think all the politicians' glasses are half full and they could very easily be viewed as half empty, including hers, because three-quarters of it was struck down as you point out. and with regard to the -- as she puts it, the key provision of 1070, the court left open the opportunity to strike it down when implemented. as i read this decision, it is the court saying, we can't preclude it from being implemented where on its face, on its surface it says race and national origin won't be taken into consideration, but let's see how it is implemented and they left that door open. >> raul, let me play what jose diaz-balart had to say on msnbc this morning, this is more about latinos in arizona. let me play jose and get your thoughts on it. >> okay. >> there is a whole issue of people that may look brown, and can be asked about

to immigration policy, michael brought this up, too how boxed in is mitt romney by high-profile members within his own party like arizona governor jan briar around the fa jan brewer and people will have a hard time walking away from thing said in the primary. >> boxed in? he is like in solitary confinement on alcatraz, i was chuckling when my friend, michael, was talk. he doesn't have a hill to climb, he has mount everest to climb. why? he gave us his policy. during the primary, add very simple policy, people not here illegally should leave. that was the policy, doesn't matter if you were young, old, self-deport, grandmother, a worker, tough leave. and now when barack obama comes out with this policy affecting 800,000 or more younger illegal immigrants, undocumented workers, they could say, he can't respond to that this is a key issue here. there is no reason to penalize those percentage out of the country, to homes that they never knew were not really their homes, there's no good policy position to do it. so, my guess is latino voters look at people who oppose the president's policy. we don't accept it. and say there is only one reason to take that poe you don't

. >> michael, i want to ask you in terms of the next step in arizona, governor jan brewer is doubling down on the decision, saying today's decision by the supreme court is a victory for the rule of law. she's clearly going to go forward with her agenda. she will be speaking at 1:00 p.m. eastern, i believe. we know there are similar laws, utah, indiana, alabama, georgia and south carolina. what can we expect in terms of, you know, either blow-back or furtherance of these kinds of policies across the country? >> well, it's right, you could see a profusion of laws that are similar to the narrow provision that was not struck down. but the other parts of the law really were pretty clearly deemed federal power and it does put more and more pressure on congress and on the federal government to do something about comprehensive immigration reform. i think even more important than whether people trust the president or not is whether both parties see it as in their self-interest to do it. they may be paralyzed right now by super pacs and even more so because the supreme court upheld citizens uni

michael reagan walks us through this. >>> and arizona governor jan brewer upset from the fallout overeral government's refusal to cooperate with arizona when it comes to enforcing federal immigration law. rush limbaugh has a new take on the obama administration's treatment of arizona, and we'll talk about the fallout.coming up. >> clear now, obama's given up winning arizona. he doesn't care. written it off. now going soviet on it to make an example to every other state, by the way, and do not discount that. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. megyn: fox news alert. we are less than half an hour away now from a major event on capitol hill. the house committee will start the contempt pr

michael. where we will call it this morning. i think that it clearly leaves a real question of discrimination. you tlad on a lawsuit against his friends. no ghe his profile. the question is governor brewer on it because it undermines the states rights theories. when you get to this financial campaign rule, it opens the doors for states and cities to really just do what they want with money. i think that the president will end up having an election against this court. they took a very, very partisan view. >> the other aspect of the reverend and the health care ruling overshadows to a certain extent in the media the immigration ruling. in states like nevada, colorado and arizona, hispanics in those states, and florida, it's not going to overshadow what's happening in their daily lives. >> that's right, mike. they got the message loud and clear and it will ripple through the communities and they remember as long as the law is upheld. if i can comment on the ruling, nothing happened to the politics more than the citizens united ruling. you look at the history of the state in which the ruling came down. 100 years ago, there were a couple of copper barron who is financed the politic there is