Teen who killed his entire family could be released from custody when he turns 21- Judge

A judge has cleared the way 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 nine-year-
old brother and two sisters, ages five and two,
authorities said.
Griego's father was the last to die in the family.
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.
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 Wal-Mart shoppers, though
investigators had no information that Griego
actually went to a Wal-Mart 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.
'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, Judge Romero, however, 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 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 likely 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.