The teenager from New Mexico who killed his family in 2013 was sentenced as juvenile on Thursday.
According to Daily Mail UK, Judge John J. Romero ruled that 18-year-old Nehemiah Griego be sentenced as juvenile and to be possibly free from state custody when he turns 21.
Police records showed that Griego was 15 when he shot his mother as she slept and then his younger brother and two sisters. Griego's father, a former pastor, was the last to die as the teen trapped him after he returned home.
Griego, now 18, pleaded guilty in October to two counts of second-degree murder and three counts of child abuse resulting in death for killing his siblings - ages 9, 5 and 2, the news source said.
Romero handed the decision Thursday after he heard opposing opinions from medical experts, Fox News reported. Attorneys gave closing arguments in children's court to decide whether Griego should be sentenced as a minor or an adult for killing family at his home near Albuquerque.
Stephen Taylor, an attorney for Griego, narrated to the judge that the teen grew up with his abusive parents and possibly suffered a traumatic brain injury. The attorney said the teen was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder after his arrest, the site added.
Griego has made significant progress at a psychiatric treatment center for juveniles in the past year and a half. His counselors sworn for the defense, saying the teen had qualified into a role example for other troubled boys.
However, Prosecutor Michelle Pato refuted the decision of the judge saying that the January 2013 killings was predatory and cold-blooded. According to authorities, Griego roused his younger brother to flaunt him his mother's body before shooting the 9-year-old too. Griego took pictures of the two victims before shooting his younger sisters in their beds, ABC News said.
Pato recalled the testimony of Dr. Kris Mohandie in the hearing that Griego appeared "detached" during an interview last year and offered a cold, matter-of-fact recounting of the rampage.
"He played with his brother that day knowing he was going to kill him," Pato said as quoted by the source. "This was very much planned, very thought out and cruel."
But Judge Romero said, the state law called for the hearing and his findings to focus on how to handle Griego's case and not the offense, ABC News wrote.
In three to six weeks, a hearing will be held to sentence Griego as a juvenile.
