By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
The Northfield teen charged with murdering his sister-in-law and two nephews, Eric Sweeney, signed an intent to plead guilty on Tuesday.
Sweeney, now 19, allegedly shot and killed Kassandra Sweeney, 25, and his nephews, Benjamin Sweeney, 4, and Mason Sweeney, 23 months old, on Aug. 3, 2022, in their Northfield home. He was 16 at the time of the murders.
Eric Sweeney was living at the Wethersfield Drive with his brother, Sean Sweeney, husband to Kassandra Sweeney and father to the two boys. The motive for the crime is not clear, nor is it clear who owned the gun used in the killings.
Police responded to a 911 call from the Sweeney home on the morning of Aug. 3, 2022, finding the dead bodies of the mother and children.
Sweeney’s lawyer, public defender Morgan Taggart-Hampton, filed the intent to plead with the Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord. This sets up a plea hearing on Friday and likely puts an end to the planned trial.
Sweeney was originally indicted on three counts of first-degree murder for killing Kassandra, Benjamin, and Mason Sweeney, by shooting them. He was also indicted on one count of falsifying physical evidence for trying to either destroy or get rid of the .40 caliber Taurus pistol used in the killings.
All three victims were killed with a single gunshot wound, according to the autopsies.
Eric Sweeney was arrested about a week after the murders, though his identity was shielded due to the fact he was a juvenile at the time.
The intent to plea form indicates Sweeney will plead guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and one count of falsifying physical evidence. The plea is being made as a “naked plea,” meaning Sweeney has not negotiated any sort of deal with the state.
Sweeney now faces the possibility of getting sentenced to life in prison on each second-degree murder charge, though it remains to be seen if he will be able to get out of prison at some point. Grafton County Superior Court Judge Lawrence MacLeod recently ruled that life in prison without parole is unconstitutional for minors in the case of Robert Tulloch, one of the two men convicted of killing Dartmouth professors Half and Susanne Zantop in 2001. Tulloch was 17 at the time of the murders.