Overview
- Eric Sweeney, who was 16 at the time and is now 19, pleaded guilty in August to three counts of reckless second-degree murder and to falsifying physical evidence.
- At Friday’s hearing before Judge John C. Kissinger in Merrimack County Superior Court, prosecutors asked for consecutive terms of 35 years to life for Kassandra Sweeney and 40 years to life for each child, with up to 18 years suspended for meeting treatment, education, and conduct goals.
- Defense lawyers seek concurrent 40-to-life sentences and plan to present psychological experts, arguing that an effective life term for a juvenile conflicts with constitutional protections and that Sweeney has rehabilitation potential.
- Filings state Kassandra, 25, and her sons Benjamin, 4, and Mason, 1, each died from a single gunshot; prosecutors say ballistics and body locations indicate the children were shot first, minutes after a video showed them playing.
- Court records say the murder weapon, taken from a locked safe, was found eight days later along Interstate 93; both sides agreed the falsifying-evidence count should carry a suspended sentence.