Overview

• The guilty plea replaces a planned first-degree murder trial and reduces Sweeney’s exposure from an automatic life sentence without parole to a potential life term with parole eligibility.
• Prosecutors plan to introduce phone videos showing the victims playing peacefully minutes before the shootings to counter an intruder narrative.
• Court filings state that Sweeney told police he heard a deep male voice and multiple gunshots upstairs before finding Kassandra Sweeney and her sons fatally wounded.
• Authorities say the .40-caliber handgun used in the killings belonged to Sweeney’s brother and was kept locked in a safe under the couple’s bed.
• Defense attorneys had weighed an insanity defense amid evidence of Sweeney’s preexisting behavioral issues, including a June 2022 incident in which he took the family truck and a note expressing his alienation.