Blumberg, who once worked at the state's maximum-security psychiatric hospital, has evaluated about 50 teenagers charged with murder. Although he did not mention it in court, the first case in which he served as an expert witness after leaving the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital was that of a 17-year-old Anne Arundel County boy accused of killing his adoptive parents in 1984.
Larry Swartz of Cape St. Claire ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was released in 1993.
"It received a lot of publicity because it was one of the first double patricides, certainly in Maryland, and perhaps in all of the United States. It was before the Menendez brothers and all of that," said Ronald A. Baradel, a civil litigator from Annapolis who had handled Swartz's adoption and then helped represent Swartz in the murder case.
The case inspired a book, Sudden Fury, that become a New York Times best-seller and, later, a made-for-TV movie.
The teenager's parents, Kathryn and Robert Swartz, were devout Catholics who were extremely strict with their three adopted children.
Richard M. Karceski, who served as lead counsel on Larry Swartz's defense team, recalled that friends and neighbors of the family witnessed innumerable instances of emotional abuse.
"They had a swimming pool, but the parents would not allow water to splash outside of the pool. The kids would get in trouble if water splashed," he said. "It was strict beyond imagine - and supported by other people."
In addition, medical reports and other evidence revealed the horrible abuse that Larry Swartz suffered before being adopted, starting with his prostitute mother, who abandoned the baby on a doorstep, and later in foster care, Karceski said.
"Our defense was similar to what it looks like Browning's is going to be - the proverbial tea kettle ready to spout its whistle or the proverbial balloon that can only hold so much air before it's ready to burst," he said. "On the night this happened, something snapped in Larry Swartz and he did this to his parents."
The important distinction between the Swartz and Browning cases, though, might hinge on the abuse allegations, Karceski and Baradel agreed.
"Those facts really supported the abuse," Karceski said of his case from 24 years ago. "These facts may, but at this point they don't even seem to be approaching the Larry Swartz set of events."
The Browning case is scheduled to go to trial in December.
jennifer.mcmenamin@ baltsun.com
