GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.—A Grand Junction man has been convicted of killing his 13-year-old son while the boy slept at their home.
A Mesa County jury deliberated for about two hours before convicting 53-year-old Allen Grabe of first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death on Wednesday. The jurors had begun deliberations Tuesday afternoon.
A judge immediately sentenced Grabe to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors said Grabe shot his son nine times on September 2008. Grabe’s attorney told jurors his client “was engulfed in an unreal reality.” Grabe pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
During the trial, jurors heard a 911 call in which Grabe is heard saying that his son was going “going home to God.” Grabe’s wife testified that she called police during the shooting and then locked herself in her son’s closet while waiting for police to arrive.
Grabe was pronounced sane once and pronounced insane twice during evaluations by three different doctors. His son, Jacob, had been treated for Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. Deputy District Attorney Jason Conley told jurors that Grabe had no emotional connection to the eighth-grader. Prosecutors also argued Grabe acted deliberately and that he knew the difference between right and wrong and chose to kill his son.
Grabe’s attorneys are planning to appeal.
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Information from: The Daily Sentinel,
