Northfield Teen Sentenced To 60 Years To Life For Triple Murder

By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH

Eric Sweeney turned 16 the week before he murdered his sister-in-law, Kassandra Sweeney, 25, along with his nephews Benjamin, 4, and Mason, 23 months.

Now 19 years old, Eric Sweeney won’t get out of prison until after he turns 70 under the sentence handed down Friday by Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger. The judge sentenced Eric Sweeney to 60 years to Life in prison for the 2022 triple murder that destroyed three young lives and tore a hole in his extended family.

Prosecutors asked for 115 years to life in prison for the murders, while the defense asked for 40 years to life. The sentence Kissinger handed down allows Eric Sweeney a “narrow path” to redemption and rehabilitation, the judge said.

It’s unknown now if Eric Sweeney, at 19 years old, can ever be rehabilitated, Kissinger said. If that is possible, Eric Sweeney has the chance now to prove it over the coming decades inside prison, Kissinger said.

Kissinger’s sentence is not for life, but it does keep Eric Sweeney locked up until he is close to a natural death, according to average life expectancy.

“I hope that you show through your actions you are worthy of the opportunity. It is not much of an opportunity, but it is a hope,” Kissinger said.

Kissinger came to his decision after hearing hours of testimony on Friday from Sweeney family members gutted by Eric Sweeney’s still inexplicable crimes, as well as expert psychologists brought in by the defense to explain the impact severe childhood abuse and neglect had on Eric Sweeney before he turned to murder.

“Two things are very clear in this case. First, Mr. Sweeney, Eric Sweeney, the defendant here, had a horrific early childhood marked by physical, sexual abuse, and severe neglect. Second, the murders of Kassandra, Benjamin, and Mason were unimaginably brutal and heinous,” Kissinger said.

On the morning of Aug. 3, 2022, Kassandra Sweeney watched as Eric Sweeney shot her two sons in the head before he turned the gun on her and shot her in the face, Assistant Attorney General Bethany Durand said.

“There is nothing about the defendant's trauma or past that negates the choices he made on August the third of 2022. Nothing negates the unmitigated violence, the unprovoked attack that he unleashed that day on Kassandra, Benjamin, and Mason,” Durand said.

The murders are still painful for the Sweeney family, who are struggling to reconcile the loss of Kassandra and the boys. Eric Sweeney sat still and expressionless as 11 members of the Sweeney family and friends stood up to condemn him, and tell him he is not a real Sweeney in their victim impact statements.

“You are evil, you are a monster. I hope every day in prison is miserable, I hope the other inmates make you scared like you made them scared,” Katrina Turnball, Kassandra Sweeney’s sister, said.

It was Kassandra Sweeney who pushed her husband, Eric Sweeney’s brother Sean Sweeney, to take in the troubled and neglected Eric when he was 13 years old in 2019. Eric Sweeney grew up with his chaotic, drug addicted mother, Heidi Sweeney, and suffered from abuse, neglect, malnutrition, and homelessness throughout his young life, according to court records.

Things got better for Eric Sweeney when he moved in with Sean and Kassandra at their home in Laconia. He had his own place to sleep, food that wasn’t expired, clothes that fit, and people who loved him. Eric Sweeney made friends, did well in therapy, and was starting to open up.

But that changed when Sean and Kassandra got a house in Northfield in 2022 to better fit their growing family. It was a positive move, but it took Eric away from his friends and the therapist he trusted. He spiraled into depression and started acting out, according to the testimony. He was in regular conflict with Sean, who tried to impose normal discipline and boundaries on his teen brother. In March of that year, Sean Sweeney tried to give up his guardianship of his younger brother, but was blocked by a family court judge.

Problems continued when Eric Sweeney stole his brother's truck and ran away weeks before the murders, leading to more tension in the home. There were also concerning comments Eric Sweeney made that prompted Sean Sweeney to call police when he found homemade weapons around the house.

Dr. Laurie Guidry testified that due to the extreme abuse Eric Sweeney suffered in the first years of his life, he had maladapted responses to the world around him, and essentially never thought he was safe.

“What’s happened with Eric is that over this extended period of time, his perception becomes distorted so that anything that even moves in the direction of his perception of threat … for him, everything is a threat,” Guidry said.

Prosecutors wanted Eric Sweeney sentenced to three, consecutive prison terms: one 35 years to Life for the murder of Kassandra, and two 40 years to Life for the murders of the boys.

Defense attorney Lauren Prusiner made the case for a 40 year sentence for all three murders, served concurrently, making Erice Sweeney eligible for release in his 50s.

“We're not asking you to forget what Eric did, we're not asking you to forgive, we’re not asking you to condone his actions,” Prusiner said. “We’re asking the court to make a choice to embrace compassion, embrace our common humanity, to acknowledge that Eric is a human being worthy of love and care and consideration, and a chance at redemption.”

Eric Sweeney did not address the court himself, as Prusiner said he felt unable to express the remorse he feels for the murders. He knows he will never speak to his brother Sean again, the brother he looked up to, and who took him in when he needed to be rescued.

“It’s not that he doesn’t want to say something, it’s that even after three years he can’t find the words,” Prusiner said.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.