Doctor says abuse led Cockeysville teen to slay his family

Psychiatrist Neil Blumberg’s testimony came during a hearing in which a Baltimore County Circuit judge ordered Browning, a 16-year-old Dulaney High School student, to be tried as an adult in the deaths of his father, John Browning, 45; mother, Tamara Browning, 44; and brothers Gregory, 14, and Benjamin, 11.

It was the first glimpse into Browning’s apparently two-part defense: claiming that his parents were abusive and that he was having an out-of-body experience during the killings.

“This was a deeply disturbed young man in a deeply disturbed family in which a gun was available and a tragedy happened,” said Blumberg, who testified that Browning suffers from dissociative disorder and alcohol abuse.

Starting in the sixth grade, as his grades slipped, Nicholas Browning was often verbally abused by his parents, Blumberg said. He gave the following insults as examples:

“You’re a f--- up. You’re a fat a--. Your friends are punks. You’ve got no moral compass. You’ve got no religious convictions. You’re not applying yourself.”

Those comments made Nick feel “like a failure,” the psychiatrist said. “Nick described his mother’s criticism as extremely hurtful.”

His father and mother also backhanded or roughed-up Nick when he acted out: Bullying other kids, flipping off an official in lacrosse or picking on his younger brothers.

“The abuse Nick sustained was significant,” Blumberg said.

Blumberg also said John Browning was abusive to his wife and had a drinking problem.

Prosecutors Leo Ryan and Ann Brobst took issue with Blumberg’s characterization of the family, questioning the credibility of the statements and noted that the parents’ discipline increased as Nick’s behavior worsened.

“[Nick] started to be a bully,” Brobst said.

Blumberg said the abuse escalated considerably in the six months prior to the killings after Nick’s mother caught him and another boy watching pornography and masturbating.

The boy later said Nick had raped him, Blumberg said.

“[The incident] was swept under the carpet,” he said.

Nick gave Blumberg a detailed account of how he killed his family. While staying at a friend’s house, Browning walked home late Feb. 2.

“He was in a trancelike state,” the psychiatrist said. “He started fantasizing, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if they weren’t here? Wouldn’t it be nice if they couldn’t bother me anymore?’ ”

Nick thought about how he could ride the bus to school the coming Monday and return home at dinnertime without any pressure or criticism, Blumberg said.

“It was like a daydream,” Blumberg said.

Nick walked into the family’s upscale home, picked up his father’s gun and walked up behind his father, who was sleeping on the couch as “The Da Vinci Code” played on television.

“He raised the gun to his head. ... He has no recollection of pulling the trigger, but the first thing he heard was a bang,” Blumberg said.

Nick then hurried upstairs, fatally shooting his mother and two brothers — one by one — as they slept.

Nick then faked a burglary — placing the family’s Xbox and Wii by the door and knocking over his mother’s jewelry.

After that, Nick went back to his friend’s house and fell asleep.

In his first meetings with Blumberg, Nick showed no emotion when discussing the killings. Sometimes, he even smiled.

He talked about killing his family as one would talk about “taking out the trash,” Blumberg said.

Only months later did the teen appear to realize what he’d done, the psychiatrist said.

Ryan, Baltimore County’s deputy state’s attorney, took issue with many of the defense’s statements, arguing Nick revealed his attorneys’ tactics in an interview with a state psychiatrist.

“He said his lawyers were busy digging up dirt on his father and would try to paint him as an alcoholic, abusive father,” Ryan said.

When the state psychiatrist asked how that would help him justify the slayings of his mother and brothers, Ryan said Nick had a telling reply:

“We’re still working on that.”

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com