What began as an ordinary morning in a quiet New Hampshire home turned into a horrific tragedy when a teenage boy murdered his sister-in-law and her two young sons — a crime that has left a family shattered and a community reeling.
Eric Sweeney was just 16 years old when he fatally shot 25-year-old Kassandra Sweeney and her sons, 4-year-old Benjamin and 1-year-old Mason, inside their home in Northfield, New Hampshire, in August 2022. Now 19, Sweeney has pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder. Prosecutors are seeking a minimum sentence of 97 years in prison, according to AP News.
Sweeney had been living with his older brother, Sean Sweeney, and Kassandra for three years before the killings. His defense team plans to argue for a sentence of 40 years to life, pointing to what they described as “immeasurable trauma” during his childhood — including growing up with a mother who “dragged him through drug dens and a succession of abusive father figures.”
In their sentencing memorandum, attorneys Lauren Prusiner and Morgan Taggart-Hampton asked the court “to grant Eric some measure of mercy.” They said Sweeney’s crimes were the result of deep psychological damage and fear of losing what he saw as the only stable home he had ever known.
Prosecutors, however, have called for the maximum punishment. Assistant Attorney General Benthan Durand said the victims’ innocence demanded the harshest penalty. “Benjamin and Mason embody the reason why crimes against children deserve the harshest of penal sanctions,” Durand said. “They did absolutely nothing wrong; they were innocent and utterly blameless for what the defendant did.”
Court documents describe Kassandra as a devoted mother and nursing assistant who worked night shifts so she could spend her days with her sons. On the morning of the murders, she recorded a short video of the boys playing and sent it to her husband.
Just four minutes later, all three were dead — Benjamin still wearing a dinosaur costume. Police say Sweeney initially claimed he heard gunshots from the basement and found the victims already dead, but later confessed to the killings.
Sweeney’s lawyers argued that a life sentence would deny him any chance of redemption. “A forty-year minimum sentence would offer Eric hope that someday, he can make a meaningful life outside prison walls,” they wrote. Sweeney’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Friday.