Jury nullification!
Or, sue the school district for failing to protect him.
And I be willing to bet that the parents and the student had reported the bullying several times. I hate the fact that schools spend obscene amounts of money on anti-bullying material but never practice what they preach. One kid was picking on my daughter in high school (not a smart move, as she is on the football team and is "protected" by her teammates). I went to the vice principal the first couple of times, then I told my daughter to "take care of business the way you know to make it stop". He went to the vice principal and told him that my daughter hit him. He called me and I told him that since the admin wasn't doing anything about it, I told her to take are of it. He laughed and told me that she hit him so hard that he wouldn't taste anything for a week. Funny thing is, the bullying stopped.
Both!