Nick Browning case update

WBAL TV

The lawyer for a Cockeysville teenager accused of killing his parents and brother six weeks ago is seeking to move the case out of the adult criminal system and into the juvenile system.

Nick Browning is accused of taking his father’s handgun and shooting to death his father, mother and two younger brothers inside the family’s home in early February. He was 15 at the time of the incident but is now 16 years old.

11 News I-Team reporter Jayne Miller reports that the attempt to have Browning treated as a juvenile would dramatically change the potential course of the case. If successful, it would limit how long he can be held if found guilty and could keep him out of the adult prison system altogether.

Browning has been charged as an adult in the slayings of his father, John Browning, 45; his mother, Tamara, 44; and his brothers Gregory, 14, and Benjamin, 11, according to Baltimore County police.

Investigators said Browning confessed to the slayings. Browning’s lawyer, Joshua R. Treem, argued that the alleged confession was unconstitutional.

Miller reported that Treem is likely to make an issue of what appears on Browning’s computer-generated court paperwork, which lists the maximum penalty for the slayings as death.

That’s true for older defendants but not for a suspect of Browning’s age. No one under 18 is eligible for the death penalty, Miller reported.

That issue came into play in the case of a 17-year-old slaying suspect in Annapolis several years ago, whose confession was thrown out.