Brendan Tevlin's murderer enter guilty plea, will spend life in prison
The first tears came from Allison Tevlin, when her son's killer admitted to the murder charge in the death of Brendan Tevlin four years ago.
"I killed him. I shot him to death," Ali Muhammad Brown said during his guilty plea today in Essex County Superior Court.
At those words, said matter-of-fact with no emotion or remorse, Allison Tevlin clutched a handkerchief to her mouth and nose to muffle her sobs. Her husband Michael, sitting next to her, reached over to comfort her, and gain comfort from her.
Their oldest son was 19 on June 25, 2014, when Brown stepped out of the shadows on a West Orange street and began shooting at the young man, who was sitting in his car, stopped for a red light.
Exactly one month later, Brown gave a statement to detectives admitting to Tevlin's murder and three other killings in Washington State, characterizing them as part of jihadist mission.
Guilty plea in Tevlin murder
It was that statement that put teeth into the terrorism charge Brown faced, along with other charges for murder, felony murder, weapons possession, robbery and carjacking. Many of those charges carried minimum sentences that, if imposed consecutively, would have kept Brown, 34, in prison into the next century.
But the terrorism charge, because it resulted in death, is a mandatory life sentence without parole.
MORE: Recent Mark Di Ionno columns
Brown's plea, which came as jury selection was under way for his trial, guarantees he will die in prison.
It also spares the Tevlin family the pain of sitting through the trial.
Homicide trials are brutal for the victims' families. They must endure detailed and explicit testimony and autopsy reports and pictures. Evidence, such as bloodstained clothing and murder weapons are introduced in court.
In many ways, a trial colors-in the horrific details that a family may know only in the abstract.
In the Tevlin case, this was apparent late last year when Brown's confession was ruled admissible.
Michael Tevlin sat through that, wincing as Brown's taped statement was played about the shooting and the aftermath -- words that, for the victim's father, could never be unheard, creating images never to be unseen in the mind's eye.
Michael and Allison Tevlin, and their three remaining children, and their extended family of Brendan's grandparents, aunts and uncles, were braced for trial. Brown's decision to plea out was an unexpected relief.
"I was dreading it," Allison Tevlin said during a private meeting between the family, the prosecutors and detectives who worked on the case. "I didn't want to go through the play-by-play.
"I was mostly worried for our kids," she said. "It affects them, even though they say it doesn't."
All three Tevlin children are in school.
Brian is freshman at Yale. Michaela is at the University of Richmond, where Brendan had just completed his freshman year when he was killed. Sean is a junior at Seton Hall Prep, which his two older brothers attended.
"They're all having midterms," Allison said.
The Tevlins have always been careful to allow life to go on for their other kids.
"They don't even know we're here," Michael added. "I didn't want to tell them until we know it went through. I have to text them now."
The Tevlins got word that Brown was considering a guilty plea on Friday. But due to the erratic nature of someone who goes on a domestic, jihadist killing spree, they took a cautious, "We'll believe it when we see it" position.
During his plea, Brown rambled about "being stupid" and "ignorant" during his murder rampage. He denied being a terrorist, now, and tried to skate around the issue several times. He said going on the internet and watching jihadist videos overwhelmed his mind. He said he never wanted to kill Americans - "even white ones" -- because he was an American, too. He said all of it was a mistake out of ignorance. He admitted to killing three men in Washington State, two of them because they were "homosexual."
While saying "I'm not a scumbag or an evil-doer," he also acknowledged he deserved to spend the rest of his life in jail.
One thing Brown never said, however, was that he was sorry.
In the post-plea meeting, prosecutor Jamel Semper told the family, "He's trying to make himself a martyr. But it doesn't matter what he says. He'll never see the light of day."
During the meeting, Michael Tevlin asked if Brown could recant his pleas.
Semper said it was possible, but case law shows withdrawals of such detailed allocutions are rarely allowed.
"The bottom-line is, he's going to die in jail," Semper assured them.
At this point in the meeting, more tears came. Michael Tevlin got choked up, thanking Semper and the prosecutor's office team.
"Jamel, you've been with us every step of the way," he said. "We were blessed you were assigned to the case."
He thanked Lt. Tom Kelly, the homicide detective who led the case. Kelly, who looks like a prototype cop with his crew cut and door-wide shoulders, began wiping tears from his eyes.
He thanked the other homicide detectives -- Jim Ventola, Wilfredo Perez, Sgt. Tom McEnroe of the State Police and Ryan Funk of the West Orange police - who all sat in court during the plea.
Around the table there were tears of relief, from Brendan's grandparents, Tom Tevlin, Sr. and Neil McNulty and Barbara McNulty, and a number of uncles and aunts.
They had justice for their beloved young man -- a Shillelagh Club bagpiper, an athlete whose name is memorialized atop Seton Hall Prep's athletic stadium, a popular kid with a blazingly bright future.
Justice won't bring him back, but it spared them the further agony of trial.
And, as it always does with families that stick together through these kind of things, some humor began to emerge.
One of the members of the big Irish family complimented Semper on the tie he chose to wear to court.
It was emerald green, the color of a shamrock.
Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@starledger.com. Follow The Star-Ledger on Twitter @StarLedger and find us on Facebook.
