So Nicholas W. Browning has pleaded guilty in the shooting deaths of parents and two brothers in their Baltimore County home in February.

Baltimore Sun reporter Jennifer McMenamin reports that under the deal the 16-year-old will get no more than two consecutive life terms. This comes on a day when a judge was to have heard arguments on whether Browning's statements to police -- that he stood over his father for 25 minutes before shooting him in the head and that he tried to cover up the crime by making it look like the house had been burglarized.

This certainly was a horrible case that once again challenged people to figure out how this could happen. Without a trial, many questions might never be answered. I'll be watching to see if the young man says anything when he sentenced on Dec. 2.