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N.M. teen who killed family cleared for early release
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New Mexico teen who killed entire family, including pastor-dad, cleared by judge for early release from state custody
FEB 12, 2016 12:04 PM
A judge cleared the way Thursday for a New Mexico teenager who shot and killed his parents and three younger siblings to be sentenced as a juvenile and released from state custody by the time he turns 21 after the teen’s attorneys argued he could be psychologically rehabilitated.
Nehemiah Griego was 15 when he opened fire in his family’s home south of Albuquerque, killing his mother as she slept and then his 9-year-old brother and two sisters, ages 5 and 2, authorities said. Griego’s father was the last to die: The teen waited in a bathroom and ambushed the gang member-turned-pastor after he returned home, sheriff’s officials said.
Now 18, Griego has undergone nearly two years of therapy at a state adolescent treatment center — where his teachers, psychiatrists and others say he has made significant progress after being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and some learning disabilities.
“It all points in the same direction,” said Jeffrey Buckels, Griego’s public defender. “He’s getting better and deserves a chance.”
Judge John Romero ruled on Griego’s treatment after a lengthy hearing in children’s court to determine whether he could be psychologically rehabilitated and sentenced as a juvenile, which allows his release from state custody in just more than two years. Griego turns 21 in March 2018.
He pleaded guilty in October to two counts of second-degree murder for his parents’ deaths and three counts of child abuse resulting in death, which his attorney said showed he had taken responsibility for the crime.
Prosecutor Michelle Pato countered that assertion, recalling testimony in the hearing from some who said Griego seemed matter-of-fact and emotionless the day after the shooting and during a psychiatrist’s interview last year.
Calvary Albuquerque Pastor Skip Heitzig prays in 2013 at a prayer vigil for the slain family. The shooter's father, Gregory Griego (pictured l.), was a former pastor at the Calvary Albuquerque church.IMAGE BY: SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN/AP
After the 2013 killings, authorities alleged that Griego reloaded his parents’ two semi-automatic rifles and put them in the family van and planned to gun down Walmart shoppers, though investigators had no information that Griego actually went to a Walmart the day of the shooting.
A security official said in the days after the shooting, Griego spent much of the day wandering the campus at Calvary Church, an Albuquerque megachurch where his father had been a pastor.
In closing arguments, Pato described the January 2013 killings as predatory and cold-blooded, with Griego waking his younger brother to show him his mother’s body before shooting the 9-year-old too. Griego took a photo of the two victims before shooting his younger sisters in their beds, Pato said.
Nehemiah Griego, now 18, is seen Wednesday in Children's Court in Albuquerque, N.M.IMAGE BY: MARLA BROSE/ZUMAPRESS.COM
“He played with his brother that day knowing he was going to kill him,” Pato said. “This was very much planned, very thought out and cruel.”
As chilling as details of the crime may have been, Romero said state law called for the hearing and his findings to focus on Griego and his prospects for rehabilitation, not the offense.
Defense attorneys’ case presented a narrative of a teen who grew up in a chaotic environment, enduring emotional abuse by his mother and physical abuse at the hands of his father that likely led to a traumatic brain injury.
A Jan. 21, 2013, photo shows the entrance to a home where a couple and their three young children were found shot to death south of Albuquerque, N.M.IMAGE BY: SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN/AP
A residential supervisor at Sequoyah Lodge, where Griego is undergoing treatment, said the 18-year-old had matured into a role model for other troubled boys, while one teacher described the teen as a thoughtful student despite having expressed racist viewpoints, a fascination with war and Nazi Germany, and the notion of absolute power.
A forensic psychologist for the defense said he recommended Griego receive five more years of treatment, despite the likeliness that Griego’s treatment at Sequoyah Lodge would end in 2018. The judge didn’t rule Thursday on continuing Griego’s treatment after he turns 21.
A hearing will be held to sentence Griego as a juvenile in three to six weeks.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...case-of-teen-who-killed-5-heads-back-to-court
