CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A young man from New Hampshire who was 16 when he killed his sister-in-law and two young nephews was sentenced Friday to 60 years in prison.

Eric Sweeney, now 19, had been living with his older brother’s family in Northfield for three years when he fatally shot Kassandra Sweeney, 25, and her sons, 4-year-old Benjamin and 23-month-old Mason, in August 2022.

Originally charged with first-degree murder, Sweeney instead pleaded guilty in August to lesser charges of second-degree murder. At a sentencing hearing Friday, defense lawyers sought a prison term of 40 years to life, based in part on the “immeasurable trauma” Sweeney suffered as a child, including a mother who “dragged him through drug dens and a succession of abusive father figures.”

“We are asking the court to

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