NH - Kassandra - Benjamin - Mason Sweeney Shot to Death in Northfield - Juvenile Charged *ARREST*

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Different circumstances but murder charges against juveniles, nonetheless. And, I'm surprised one (or more?) of the juveniles have been named by LE. I would assume that if a family member of an accused juvenile chose to speak to a reporter for publication, those comments would be made public, as I've seen in this case. I mean, what would prevent a family member from speaking publicly... with or without state laws regarding juvenile felony charges or transference to adult court (except from possibly naming charged youth in a publication)??

www.websleuths.com

PA, James Lambert, 73 , beaten to death by 7 youths, Philly

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2022/07/08/teens-attack-kill-man-cecil-b-moore-avenue-north-philadelphia/
www.websleuths.com www.websleuths.com
 
fred&edna said:
Different circumstances but murder charges against juveniles, nonetheless. And, I'm surprised one (or more?) of the juveniles have been named by LE. I would assume that if a family member of an accused juvenile chose to speak to a reporter for publication, those comments would be made public, as I've seen in this case. I mean, what would prevent a family member from speaking publicly... with or without state laws regarding juvenile felony charges or transference to adult court (except from possibly naming charged youth in a publication)??

www.websleuths.com

PA, James Lambert, 73 , beaten to death by 7 youths, Philly

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2022/07/08/teens-attack-kill-man-cecil-b-moore-avenue-north-philadelphia/
www.websleuths.com www.websleuths.com
Click to expand...

It would seem to be a liability concern for the news outlet.
 
Chelly said:
*Worm: I suspect the severity of the crimes may result in this minor being treated as adult by LE.

*Thanks @ticya for NH Transfer Laws info. You must have been reading my mind when I posted this.
Click to expand...
He probably will be treated as an adult if he's at least 13. If he's under 13, then he won't be, and we won't hear a whole heck of a lot, at least not through official channels.
 
Lusitana said:
Three people are dead. Three people. A baby and a toddler. Rehabilitation? How does someone ever rehabilitate from that?
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Juveniles are usually eligible for counseling and/or psychiatric treatment, so they may have better chances than a minor in adult prison.

I don't think it's possible to know if any one individual can be rehabilitated, especially without knowing any details.
 
worm said:
It would seem to be a liability concern for the news outlet.
Click to expand...
I think it comes down to protocol, and most outlets follow the same standards; just "best practices" basically.

In some countries there are actually gag orders placed on the media, but that's not a thing here. So I don't think they would be in any sort of jeopardy.

www.nytimes.com

Some News Organizations Decline to Publish Minors’ Names (Published 2013)

News organizations were split on whether to identify two Florida girls, 12 and 14, accused in the online bullying of a third girl who committed suicide.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
Chelly said:
Clearly LE won't release identifying information about the juvenile arrested. Does this mean the public won't receive any further information about these murders?
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It’s highly unlikely that the public won’t receive further information. The issue here is what NH law allows law enforcement to reveal unless/until the juvenile is charged as an adult, which will almost certainly be the case here unless the juvenile is deemed unfit to stand trial as an adult.

These laws vary by state. Florida, Pennsylvania, and NH (where I happen to live) all differ from each other.

Those laws do not cover the media, however. The media, if they are so inclined, can release the juvenile’s name if they obtain it *legally*—in other words, not from sealed or classified information. This was established in Smith v Daily Mail in 1979:

Lexis+® - Sign In | LexisNexis

LexisNexis users sign in here. Click here to login and begin conducting your legal research now.
www.lexisnexis.com

This article from the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) covers the legalities from a student newspaper perspective and was, at least to me, very informative:

Naming names: Identifying minors - Student Press Law Center

A discussion of the legal and ethical issues concerning publishing minor names and photos in student media.
splc.org splc.org
 
<modsnip - quoted post was removed for diagnosing a psychological condition without being verified as qualified to do so>

“A juvenile has been arrested and charged under the juvenile laws with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of falsifying physical evidence in connection with the homicides of Kassandra Sweeney, age 25, and her two sons Benjamin Sweeney, age 4, and Mason Sweeney, age 1, in Northfield on August 3, 2022.”

From the release:

Juvenile Charged in Connection with Northfield Homicides | News Releases | NH Department of Justice

an arrest has been made in connection with the triple homicide in Northfield.
www.doj.nh.gov
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MOO. I think this juvenile has significant mental illness. I believe this juvenile has previously spent time in a mental institution. I believe this juvenile was recommitted to an institution after the murders to regain some type of mental stability. This explains why law enforcement knew of all parties involved at the very beginning, but had not made an arrest. I believe this juvenile was arrested after being determined to have regained some mental stability.

MOO
 
sripey said:
MOO. I think this juvenile has significant mental illness. I believe this juvenile has previously spent time in a mental institution. I believe this juvenile was recommitted to an institution after the murders to regain some type of mental stability. This explains why law enforcement knew of all parties involved at the very beginning, but had not made an arrest. I believe this juvenile was arrested after being determined to have regained some mental stability.

MOO
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Juveniles tend to leave a streak of evidence behind as their levels of knowledge/reasoning abilities are not good enough to deal with it efficiently. So it is very possible that this particular underage perp left enough of evidence to become a prime suspect from the get go and that's why there was no arrest despite all the parties being known. Mentally ill people are much more often threat to themselves than to other people and speculations like above are nothing but stigmatisation.
 
drama_farmer said:
I'm hoping they were all asleep. Imo
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Me too.

Unless I missed something, LE are not divulging info re the 911 call which I find telling in itself.

I can imagine a scenario where the alleged killer made the call, claiming to have found the bodies. 11.30am would be a late wake up for a mum with two youngsters, so he may have waited a few hours, or tampered with the scenes in some way.

Due to the location, and the arrested person being a juvenile, I can also imagine they lived with the family.

If they were clearly having a mental episode of some kind when services arrived, or appeared to be, they could have been detained securely on that basis which would explain why in the presser it was said that everyone believed to be involved was located.

All JMO
 
Hexe said:
Juveniles tend to leave a streak of evidence behind as their levels of knowledge/reasoning abilities are not good enough to deal with it efficiently. So it is very possible that this particular underage perp left enough of evidence to become a prime suspect from the get go and that's why there was no arrest despite all the parties being known. Mentally ill people are much more often threat to themselves than to other people and speculations like above are nothing but stigmatisation.
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My included MOO may have been used as websleuths "legalize" in this case.

You are absolutely correct that it is incredibly rare for someone suffering from mental illness to be a threat to others.
 
I don't think there's enough information for us to be speculating about mental illness or rehabilitation. It could be this kid is just a criminal or it could be he really is mentally ill and can be rehabilitated. We just don't know.

Another possibility re: the 911 call is that he called 911 himself to say what he had done. It does happen. This would point me more toward a mental illness cause if this were the case.
 
So, the murderer here may have known the victims. Or not. He may have been a neighbor, or someone known to the family. Or he may have just been passing through, with intent to kill innocents, which I find difficult to believe. It's apparent he wasn't too hard to find, as early on LE indicated they knew all the players in this crime.

I wonder what his motive was? Anger? Jealousy? Hatred? Theft? I find it really weird. One bullet kills each victim. Nothing else reported. A juvenile presumably enters a home, kills three, is apprehended very shortly thereafter, and silence.
 
Nobody_special said:
The issue here is what NH law allows law enforcement to reveal unless/until the juvenile is charged as an adult, which will almost certainly be the case here unless the juvenile is deemed unfit to stand trial as an adult.
Click to expand...
Snipped.

Possibly, but we don't know whether the perp was at least 13. If he was under 13, then he can't be charged as an adult in NH, and we probably won't hear much of anything through official channels.
 
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