Posted 1:58 am Friday, February 03, 2012
Brother Enters Plea, Gets 20 Years For Shooting Sister
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By DAYNA WORCHEL
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
The 16-year-old New Chapel Hill youth who pleaded guilty on Thursday to shooting his older sister in the face in September 2010 admitted to a psychologist one year ago that he was responsible for her death, Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham said after the sentence was pronounced.
Mark Nathaniel Anderson received a 20-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to shooting his 19-year-old sister Amanda inside the home they shared with their parents, Mark and Stacie Anderson, on Sept. 15, 2010. Autopsy reports showed she was shot in the head four times.
Anderson, who was certified to stand trial as an adult in June, will have to serve at least 10 years before he is eligible for parole. He will not have to pay a fine, and was given credit for the one year he has served in the Smith County Jail, Bingham said.
"On Jan. 12, 2011, the defendant met with psychologist Antoinette McGarrahan and admitted to her that he had committed the offense," Bingham told Judge Jack Skeen Jr. Bingham added that the report contained information about the defendant's behavior leading up to the killing.
Skeen then sealed that psychologist's report at the request of defense attorney Brett Harrison. At a news conference afterward, Harrison said he and his co-counsel, F.R. "Buck" Files knew why the boy had shot his sister, but that he was not at liberty to divulge it.
"This was a tragic event -- we were prepared for a trial, but Nate and his parents didn't want it," Harrison said. He said that his firm had retained a number of experts in different fields who would have assisted them in Anderson's defense.
"The parents are good people and they are devastated," he said. Harrison added that Anderson was remorseful about the crime.
Bingham said at the conference he did not know why Anderson shot his sister but agreed that Thursday was a difficult and sad day for the family.
"These parents have lost two children today," he told reporters. Bingham said the parents, Mark and Stacie Anderson, agreed with their son's decision to plead guilty after meeting with their son "very recently." He was unable to say when that meeting with the Andersons and their son occurred.
Both parents signed affidavits in which they admitted their son had told them about killing Amanda and he had told them that he was "solely responsible for her death."
"He told me that he took her life by shooting her with a pistol that was in our home. He has asked for my forgiveness, and I have forgiven him," Mrs. Anderson's signed affidavit stated.
Mrs. Anderson, 45, went on to state in the affidavit that "as a mother who loves her children that this is the most difficult ordeal I have ever experienced."
Mark and Stacie Anderson, who were present in the courtroom, along with other family members, chose not to give a victim impact statement, and declined comment after the proceeding.
Bingham said arriving at the 20-year sentence was a matter of give-and-take between prosecutors and defense attorneys.
"Each side has to give up something in order to get something," he said.
Bingham said there were several factors that he considered as he negotiated with the defense team.
"I'm looking at his age and that his parents had lost a daughter and will lose him," he said.
He said both parents and everyone involved in the case had to "be on board" for the plea to happen.
Obtaining justice for Amanda was the objective, Bingham said. He credited law enforcement for all their hard work in helping solve the case, saying all of them had spent a great deal of time away from their families in order to do so.
