"Dexter" Wannabe Pleads Guilty to Murdering 10-Year-Old Brother Because He "Had To"
INDIANAPOLIS (CBS/AP) Andrew Conley, who likened the need to kill to the need for a cheeseburger when you're really hungry, pleaded guilty Monday to strangling his younger brother to death in November 2009, then stuffing his body into the trunk of his car and driving to his girlfriend's house to watch a movie.
The plea came just as jury selection was set to begin for his trial in the small Ohio River town of Rising Sun, Ind., about 90 miles from Indianapolis.
Police said Conley, who was 17 at the time of the crime, told them he had fantasized about killing people since he was in eighth grade and identified with the fictional television serial killer, Dexter. They said he told investigators that on the morning he killed his 10-year-old brother, Conner, he stood over his sleeping father with a knife and thought about killing him, too.
Conley reportedly told detectives that he strangled his brother because, "I felt like I had to," and compared the urge to a hungry person satisfying a craving for a hamburger, according to a police affidavit.
Defense attorneys had been expected to argue Conley was insane at the time. Dearborn-Ohio County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard had described the teen as "just evil."
Conley reportedly has no deal with prosecutors, and faces a minimum sentence of 45 years in prison.
Prosecutors have requested a sentence of life without parole. His sentencing hearing was scheduled to start Wednesday, and was expected to last three to four days, according to a court administrator.
"Bottom line, this is Andrew's decision and it's what he wanted to do," his attorney, Gary Sorge, told reporters Monday at a news conference. "He's been very remorseful, and from the beginning he's wanted to plead guilty, but as defense attorneys we have our job to do, and that's what we've done."
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December 7, 2009 - Alleged "Dexter" Killer Andrew Conley Pleads Not Guilty to Strangling Younger Brother
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