July 24--FORT LAUDERDALE -- As far as retired Broward Sheriff's Deputy Alcibiades "Al" Hibbert is concerned, the only thing that stood between Kyan Bucknor and a first-degree murder conviction 11 years ago was the defendant's lousy aim.
Bucknor, then 17, shot at Hibbert nine times while fleeing from a Lauderdale Lakes nightclub in late 1999. Only one bullet found its target, and Hibbert was critically injured. But he survived, and that fact will keep Bucknor from spending the rest of his life in prison.
Bucknor was handed a life sentence and sent to state prison after being convicted of attempted murder in 2001, but a 2010U.S. Supreme Courtdecision is forcing a Broward judge to re-evaluate the case and give Bucknor a chance to go free eventually.
Richard Rosenbaum, Bucknor's lawyer, hailed the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Graham v. Florida, which made it illegal to impose life sentences on juvenile offenders, even those prosecuted as adults, for any crime other than murder.
Broward Circuit Judge Thomas Lynch is scheduled to impose a new sentence on Bucknor Tuesday afternoon.
In a March interview, Rosenberg said Florida still has much to learn when it comes to handling young offenders.
"We treat them as adults in every respect," he said. "The fact is that they have not matured mentally or physically. I've attacked the way this state approaches juveniles ever since Lionel Tate."
Tate was a 12-year-old boy accused of killing his 6-year-old playmate, Tiffany Eunick. At age 14, Tate became the youngest person in modern times sentenced to life without parole in the United States. His conviction was later overturned on appeal.
Rosenbaum was his appellate lawyer. He declined to comment on the Bucknor case Tuesday morning.
Hibbert, who retired a couple of weeks before he turned 60 earlier this year, said in March that he was satisfied with Bucknor's original life sentence and disappointed that it was brushed aside by the nation's high court.
"I'm still suffering from this attack," said Hibbert. "He was the one who made the choice to arm himself. He knew exactly what he was doing. He wasn't a baby. He wanted to be a bad boy. He has to live with the consequences."
The confrontation between Hibbert and Bucknor outside the Some Place Else Cafe & Lounge on State Road 7 was not their first meeting. Hibbert, a school resource officer usually assigned to Royal Palm Elementary School in Lauderhill, said he sometimes worked at Boyd Anderson High School in Fort Lauderdale when Bucknor was a student there.
"I knew him," said Hibbert, who was also a part of the Sheriff's Office anti-truancy unit. "He was not someone known for behaving himself. He had the opportunity to receive counseling. It's not like no one ever gave him a chance."
Prosecutors said Bucknor fired shots inside the nightclub on Dec. 12, 1999, and tried to make a quick getaway, only to find himself face to face with Hibbert. The flash of the muzzle as Bucknor fired his 9mm semi-automatic handgun is something Hibbert says he'll never forget.
One bullet struck Hibbert in the lower back as he tried to get to safety behind a wall. When he radioed for help, one fellow deputy who responded was Michael Doane, who crashed his cruiser into two parked cars on his way to the scene.
Doane, 26, had been hired by theBroward Sheriff's Officea year earlier after serving three years as a deputy in thePolk County Sheriff's Office. In his previous job, he survived a shot to the leg during a confrontation with a suspect.
But he did not survive the injuries he sustained in the car crash. After nearly two weeks on life support, Doane passed away Dec. 24, 1999.
This is an updated version of an article originally published on March 12, 2012.
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Copyright 2012 - Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
