SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – Corey Ramos killed the man everyone called “brother” – a man whose family, friends and students went to for advice, comfort and guidance.

After a jury convicted Ramos of second-degree murder yesterday, the people who loved the Rev. Theodore Brown – a high school guidance counselor and Pentecostal minister who died from a stab wound that punctured his heart – said they’re trying to follow the preacher’s example and forgive his killer.

“I can imagine Ted looking down at us here today with a desire to see us all showing love and compassion for Mr. Corey Ramos,” church deacon Leslie Lewis told Superior Court Judge Thomas Curley Jr. “Not looking down with an intense hatred to see Mr. Ramos punished, but with justice.”

Punishment came with justice. Ramos received a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole in 15 years.

Ramos, 18, stabbed Brown eight times with a double-edged knife during a classroom fight that erupted after Brown repeatedly told the student to follow school rules by removing his sweatshirt hood.

“Corey Ramos is looking at spending the rest of his life in jail,” said Brown’s daughter, Tashia Brown. “And for what? A hood. Is it worth it?”

Ramos was also found guilty of possession of a dangerous weapon and carrying a dangerous weapon.

Ramos stood silently with his hands clasped behind his back as the verdicts were read. Later, he rocked back and forth in his chair as Brown’s friends and family members told Curley what the minister’s loss has meant to them.

“On Dec. 5, 2001, when Ted left the house, I was a wife. By the end of the day, a widow,” Joyce Brown wrote in a statement read by Brown’s brother, Brent Brown Sr. “The word I did not ever think I would become. My lifestyle has changed because of this crime; now I go to therapy just to learn how to face each day without Ted.”

Ramos’ attorney, Alan Black, said his client had post-traumatic shock disorder caused by beatings he received and witnessed as a child. Black had planned to call a psychologist to the stand to testify that Ramos was suffering from the condition when he stabbed Brown.

But Black decided against calling the witness after Curley said he could not guarantee the jury would be prohibited from hearing about Ramos’ prior record if the psychologist testified about her diagnosis and how the disorder may have affected Ramos’ behavior.

“Corey was the subject of abuse at a very early age,” Black said. “He watched as his mother – day in, day out – was abused and then he himself was abused and beaten. It’s no wonder the events of December 2001 occurred as they did.”

Black argued Brown provoked the fight by hounding Ramos to remove his hood and putting his hand on the teenager’s shoulder, something Ramos told him not to do.

But Sarah McMullen, a teacher who saw the fight in her classroom, testified that Ramos hit Brown first.

Students also testified that they watched the two brawl, but never saw the knife with a 4-inch blade and brass-knuckle hilt that Ramos used to stab Brown.

“This was a dangerous, violent person,” prosecutor Brett Vottero said.

Hampden District Attorney William Bennett said Springfield High School, the alternative school for troubled students where the stabbing occurred, could have been better protected if officials knew about Ramos’ violent past.

He called on lawmakers to approve legislation that would allow police and prosecutors to tell school officials about students’ criminal histories.

“Things could have been different here,” Bennett said. “The school had no information on Corey Ramos’ background.”