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15 Year Old Sentenced to 4 Life Terms in Maryland,USA
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by harringtola | January 23, 2009 at 08:43 pm
773 views | 32 Recommendations | 8 comments
Source: USAToday.com
On February 3 2008 Nicholas W. Browning was arrested for the murder of his parents and siblings, as reported on Feb. 4, by the Baltimore Sun.
A 15-year-old Dulaney High School honor student and Boy Scout was charged yesterday with shooting and killing his parents and two younger brothers, a crime that police said he confessed to more than 24 hours after the killings - time he allegedly spent hanging out with friends.
"He had some sort of disagreement with his father, and this is how he resolved it," Toohey said at a news conference at police headquarters in Towson.
Nicholas Browning then used the gun to kill his mother, Tamara Browning, 44, and his younger brothers Gregory, 14, and Benjamin, 11, who were asleep in their beds, Toohey said.
The teenager threw the gun into some bushes near the family's Cockeysville home and then spent Friday night and all day Saturday with friends, police said.
According to the Bennington Banner, almost a year later on Jan. 23, 2009, Nicholas was sentenced to four life terms for the murders.
Reportedly just days before sentencing he was overheard joking about escaping from prison in a jail house phone call to a friend.
Nicholas W. Browning took a different tone at his sentencing hearing Friday, sobbing and telling relatives he was sorry.
Judge Thomas J. Bollinger sentenced 16-year-old Browning to serve two of the life terms consecutively. As a result, he could be eligible for parole in 23 years with good behavior. The trial did little to clarify the situation in the home and in Nicholas' mind that would have led to such carnage.
Video clips of the interviews and the confession provided a chilling picture of a killer who's professed motive (abuse) admittedly did not relate to all of the killings.
In those videos the sophomore showed little emotion and confidently predicted that a jury would believe his story that burglars were responsible for the killings.
Browning ultimately confessed in the same interview, and in response to why he killed his brothers, he reportedly said, he thought if no one was there to say anything he would be believed.
However relatives stood by the visibly distraught teenager.
Several of them wrote letters asking the judge to show leniency because they believed and had examples that Browning was abused by his parents.
Browning's maternal grandfather specifically stated that he believed that he had been abused all of his life.
Browning's relatives declined comment after the hearing and prosecutors were appalled at the way the defense portrayed Browning's parents, who at least on the surface were respected in the community.
The odds of Nicholas being paroled even when he is eligible (23 years) is not high.
In Maryland parole (for an offender serving a life sentence) must be approved by the governor, and that hasn't happened since 1994.
Strikingly contrasting images were presented by prosecutors and attorneys and in accounts of 1) a jovial jailhouse phone call 2) a tearful courtroom apology leave everyone with a question that remains unanswered even now about Browning who plead guilty in October to four counts of murder. Is this a the former Boy Scout who plotted a callous murder hoping to collect a hefty inheritance or, is he really an abused teen who's ordeal ended in a tragic act of violence?
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Recommendations (32)
Rhonda J Mangus
North Tonawanda, New York, United States
Paschen
Narita, Chiba, Japan
Tina Kells
Vancouver, Canada
caj1
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (8)
at 14:37 on January 24th, 2009
Imagine bringing into the world the same person that would later take your life.
at 14:35 on January 25th, 2009
"Several of them wrote letters asking the judge to show leniency because they believed and had examples that Browning was abused by his parents."
Strange how this family will look beyond the devistating and horrible act that is kid has committed. It was not his right to take matters into his own hands and take lives because he was abused. There are other options. And, if abuse was the motive then why did he kill his two younger brother's. Were they abusing him as well?
at 14:40 on January 25th, 2009
Agreed Montoya. When asked about why he killed his brothers he stated (essentially in his own words) so there would be no witnesses.
at 06:22 on June 1st, 2009
my name is alex im in a grouphome and this is my story of what i whent through to get here im 15 when i was 11 i got sent to a grouphome for being abused i wanted to kill everyone to but i thought about it and i couldn't do it i was to scared
at 09:00 on January 26th, 2009
Two day ago I read a similar story of a Houston youth
Life sentence upheld for boy arrested at 15
1/19/2009 3:07 PM
By: Associated Press
HOUSTON -- A Houston boy arrested at his middle school for capital murder in the rape-slaying of a college professor has lost an appeal.
He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the fatal stabbing of Texas Southern University English professor Lillie Lockhart, who lived in the boy's neighborhood.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected arguments that his trial lawyer was deficient for not objecting when the teen's confession was allowed into evidence at his trial.
Evidence showed the 50-year-old victim was stabbed 13 times in the face, neck and chest, disrobed and sexually assaulted. Money she was collecting for a retirement party at the university was missing.
When Rogers was picked up four days later, he confessed and subsequently was certified to stand trial as an adult. A Harris County jury convicted him in 1995 and he automatically got a life sentence. He becomes eligible for parole at age 55.
at 22:04 on January 26th, 2009
You wonder how these children grow into such monsters at such a young age. The assumption is that they have suffered some horrible abuse or event in their own life. I wonder if there is such a thing as born evil.
at 17:17 on February 3rd, 2009
nick was abused and he dealt with it in the wrong way and he knows that. nick is not a monster, hes a nice kid who has gone through allot and i think its great that his family is supporting him, he tells me all the time can can use all the support he can get. that's what he needs right now is support and that is why his family, and me and my family are sticking by him in his time of need.
at 00:12 on June 25th, 2009
It is pretty sad - the father that was killed used to be my attorney. Its a small world for sure