A New Mexico man was sentenced Friday to three concurrent life sentences plus 14 years in the slayings of his parents and three siblings when he was 15 years old.
Nehemiah Griego, now 22, will be eligible for parole when he is 52, KOB reported.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, Griego shot his mother while she slept, then his brother and two sisters before finally ambushing his father when he returned home from work.
The case is unusual, KRQE reported, because Griego, who was sentenced as a minor, has already served his juvenile sentence of nearly seven years.
Although the state sought the maximum penalty of 120 years, Judge Alisa Hart ruled Friday in a 16-page sentencing memo that Griego should serve the concurrent life sentences for killing his siblings, ages 2 to 9, and seven years each for his parents, the Journal reported. He is being credited with the nearly seven years he has already served, the station reported.
According to the Journal, Griego's attorney urged Hart during the sentencing hearing in October to sentence his client to probation and continued treatment in an out-of-state facility, but the judge deemed the request would "put society at too great a risk."
“…the court essentially has no choice but to protect society at the expense of defendant's continued trauma-informed treatment since such a targeted, sophisticated treatment is not available in the Department of Corrections,” Hart wrote, adding, “A sentence that addresses punishment and provides for the immediate protection of society, based on defendant's current level of rehabilitation, will likely undo the work accomplished through the juvenile system and place the public at greater risk in the future. The Court recognizes the failings created by the sentencing option of incarceration and would much prefer a different alternative that would allow for continued treatment in a locked setting, if one existed.”
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