Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge by Jim Schutze (February 1998)

He Was A Bully, So He Had To Die
Review by Kim Cantrell

Unlike my usual reviews, I’m going right into review mode rather than with a lead in synopsis.

I can’t figure out why author Jim Schutze elected to title this book Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge, considering that all but the victim, Bobby Kent, were high school drop-outs.

That aside -

Lisa Connelly initially comes across as the little fat, redhead Florida urbanite who dreams of her Prince Charming. In truth, she is a sloppy, lazy, high school dropout who is desperate for the attention of ANY boy.

And he comes in the form of Marty Puccio.

Puccio pals around with a Iranian-born, steriod-taking jock named Bobby Kent.

Kent enjoys bullying the mentally challenged and anyone else who appears weak, as well his friend Puccio.

When Kent and Puccio hook up with Connelly and her best friend, Ali Willis, for what is undoubtedly supposed to be a one night stand, Connelly falls head over heals in love.

Hanging onto Puccio as if her life depends on it, Connelly finds herself competing with Kent. After all, Kent is a closeted bisexual who regularly sucks Puccio into his kinky games.

Claiming that Puccio is abused by Kent, Connelly devises a plan to kill him. Once she convinces Puccio that his life would be better sans Kent, half her work is done.

Connelly easily recruits six others from her group of stoned, wild-ass friends to help with the murder.

Of course, once the deed is done, keeping everyone’s pie-holes shut is another problem. Especially Connelly who seems to have the biggest one of all.

While Schutze’s book has been declared a serious work of fiction for his recounting of conversations, I found that it was on very accurate accounting of the case as detailed in Court documents.

Schutze has a superb writing style that impresses me with his ability to stay pretty neutral on a case that allowed me to do anything but.

While Kent was no doubt a real ass, readers are left wonder how seven kids can declare themselves judge, jury, and executioner of another human being.

The most disturbing part of this story, however, is the parental reactions to what their children have done. For the latter half of this book, wherein the parents learn of the murder, my jaw remained in my lap.

I personally wanted to line up all seven of these kids AND their parents and slap the stupid out of them!

And this is where I must end this review, lest I disclose too much. Ignore the Amazon reviews written by obvious relatives of these kids and/or the kids themselves, and read Bully for yourself.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

P.S. If you prefer, there is also a movie available on DVD by the same title on this case that coincides perfectly with the book.

Buy new and used copies of this book at:
        

Updates From This Case:

Lisa Connelly: The ringleader of the group was released from prison on February 3, 2004.

Heather Swallers: Her role having been only to give the “signal,” Swallers was released on February 14, 1998. In February 2000, she married Eduardo Carlos Isaac in Brevard County, Florida.

Derek Dzvirko: Claiming his only role was one committed under duress from an alleged Mafia hitman, Dzvirko was released on October 1, 1999. Now working as a truck driver and living in Springfield, Missouri, he is the proud parent of a daughter.

Ali Willis: Considered the wildest one of the group, Ali was released on supervised parole in September 2001. She will not be released from parole until 2041. In 2002, she married Jamie Lewis Chapman I in Brevard County, Florida.

Donny Semenec: Noted as being the one so stoned he probably thought he was still playing Mortal Kombat, he continues to serve a life sentence at the Lake Correctional Institute in Florida.

Derek Kaufman: He convinced the group that he was a Mafia hitman and now he serves a life sentence at the prison in Mayo, Florida.

Marty Puccio: Although he received the death penalty for killing his best friend, it was later commuted to a life sentence {PDF}. Despite a host of online petitions and groups demanding his freedom, Puccio continues to serve his sentence in the DeSoto Annex in Arcadia, Florida. Occasionally, he receives visits from his daughter (also Lisa Connelly’s), Megan, now 16.