Lawyers handling the case cannot comment on it because of a gag order imposed by the judge.
The testimony of psychiatrist Neil H. Blumberg, who was called by the defense, failed to persuade Baltimore County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Bollinger Sr. that the case should be tried in juvenile court. The defendant's mental condition was one of five factors - along with his age, his amenability to treatment, the nature of the crime and public safety - that the judge had to weigh.
But experts said the evidence of Browning's mental state and any mistreatment that he might have suffered at home could play a more important role at trial. Although court-appointed mental health experts attributed the killings to an isolated anti-social act by the teenager rather than a mental condition, Blumberg made a diagnosis of dissociative disorder.
The mental illness is marked by memory loss beyond normal forgetfulness; mental health problems, including depression and anxiety; a sense of detachment; and distorted perceptions.
"Something was radically wrong," Blumberg testified last week. "It is very clear that this was a deeply disturbed young man in a deeply disturbed family in which a gun was available and a tragedy happened."
He told the judge that Browning's parents routinely berated him - and sometimes slapped or backhanded him - over his grades, his appearance, his treatment of his younger brothers, his religious convictions and his morals. The father once grabbed him by his helmet and threw him against a fence after the boy disrespected a referee at a lacrosse game and, on another occasion, kicked him in the stomach at their house after a dispute with one of his brothers, Blumberg testified.
Byron L. Warnken, a University of Baltimore law school professor, said the evidence of emotional and physical abuse, if supported by other witnesses, might not meet the stringent standard that Maryland requires to prove a defendant is guilty but not criminally responsible - the state's equivalent of an insanity defense.
"All of that stuff doesn't sound normal to you and me, but killing four people is not normal either so it's a matter of degree," he said of the symptoms of dissociative disorders. "What it does establish are some facts that might be important one day at sentencing; It's a factor for a kid who is 15 years old at the time of the incident. It's a factor that he was depressed and in la-la land when it was going on. It's a factor if he was, to some extent, a victim. I think that's good stuff for sentencing as to why not to give him life without parole."
