NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia teenager has been sentenced to consecutive 40-year prison terms for the fatal shooting of his mother and sister after a judge rejected pleas by the accused for a lesser sentence.
Connor Crowe pleaded guilty last November to second degree murder after he waived his right to be tried in juvenile court or by a jury. He was 13 in September 2020 when he killed his mother, Melissa Rowland, 39, and his 15-year-old sister, Madison.
Lawyers for Crowe, 16, cited his age as one of the factors in seeking a shorter sentence, but Hancock County Circuit Judge Jason Cuomo gave him the maximum sentence, media reported.
“I want to remind you that your sister was 15 when you murdered her,” Cuomo told Crowe. “She was younger than you right now, and you gave her no consideration, no mitigation for anything less than a death sentence.”
“Your sister would have graduated from high school I think about a week or two ago. She will never have this opportunity to go to university. She will never be able to walk down the aisle with her father and get married or have children of her own. You took this from him. You haven’t given her the opportunity to do something on her own, but you’re asking me to do it for you.
After the shooting, Crowe ran away from the Weirton home and blamed a stranger. Prosecutor Steven Dragisich said gunshot residue was found on Crowe and there was no evidence anyone broke into or fled the house.
“The fact remains, he knew what he was doing was wrong,” Dragisich said Tuesday. “He thought about it before and knew it was wrong. Maybe he thought not to do it, but he did it anyway. And then he thought about a defense. It all shows the danger there. and the mitigating factors are very minimal compared to what happened in his state of mind.
Crowe could be eligible for parole after 15 years. He will remain in the juvenile justice system until his 18th birthday, when he will be transferred to an adult facility.