Cameron and Christopher Ervin sentencing: Two Georgia brothers agree to accept a plea deal on the day trial had been meant to start as questions remain as to what instigated their attack?
Cameron Ervin, 17 and his brother Christopher Ervin, 22 have been sentenced to 20 years jail after pleading guilty to drugging their parents and trying to beat them to death.
Appearing as adults at Gwinnett County Superior court on Monday the Atlanta, Georgia brothers confessed to having planned to killing their parents, agreeing to plead guilty to all thirteen charges against them, including felony, kidnapping, aggravated assault and first-degree arson.
Matters came to the fore on September 5, 2015 after the brothers drugged their parents Zachary and Yvonne Ervin during dinner along with cutting the gas line in an attempt to explode the upscale Snellville family home. From there police told of the brothers covering their mother’s face in Saran wrap in a bid to ensure her death.
The parents were able to escape their destined plan for death when Yvonne Ervin managed to call 911 emergency. A call that had been played back during court.
‘Please send someone to my house, my children are trying to kill me,’ The 50-year-old mom told the 911 operator. ‘They attacked me and my husband. They drugged us with Xanax. They attacked us and they’re trying to kill us.’
Police testified after the brothers were unable to kill their parents, elder brother Christopher Ervin saying, ‘This isn’t working; We’ll have to shoot them.’
‘We still love them,’ Yvonne and Zachery Ervin forgive sons murder plot against them
At the time, a report via ajc noted the brothers proceeded to stab their father multiple times along with hitting the 50 year old ma in the head with a shotgun.
When officers arrived, they found a bloody scene inside the family’s home. Zachary Ervin emerged from the garage covered in blood, Gwinnett County police said. (One of the brothers told police he’d been planning the attack since age 11.)
Remarkably both parents testified in court on behalf of their son’s behalf, telling the court that a bad intake of marijuana had ‘spiked’ aggressive behavior in their sons. Do you suppose?
The parents also disclosed that their sons had long bouts of history of addiction and depression.
Not necessarily understood is what may have led to the sons seeking solace and escape in drug addiction and to what degree family discord may have prompted the parent’s malcontent dispositions?
Told the brother’s father, Zachary Erwin: ‘That night, I saw Satan. I knew shortly after that, that what had happened to us wasn’t my sons.’
Adding: ‘I’m a father first,’
‘I have to forgive them.’
Told Cameron Erwin: ‘During my time that I have spent in the Gwinnett County Detention Center fighting this case … I’ve had at least one visit a week, which is at least 60 visits, with my parents, one on one… I realize how much I love them. And I realize how much they love me.’
Cameron said that both him and his brother are not the people they were before the assault. The brother’s comments come after Gwinnett County DA said both young men had hinted at a ‘bad home life.’
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter agreed to a plea deal of 50 years in jail — 20 served by each brother — with the possibility of a 30-year probation after 10 to 20 years served.
Of note, a report via 11alive told of the district attorney’s office saying that Cameron Ervin had been diagnosed with ‘narcissistic personality disorder.’
Christopher’s attorney previously said the brothers had been kept apart and have had little contact with each other. Why or how the brothers came to be ‘kept apart’ isn’t necessarily understood.
Since the unfolding of last year’s calculated attack, the Ervin parents launched a nonprofit foundation, ‘Fighting for Forgiveness’.
Notes the website in part, ‘It gave us personal insight into the world of depression and how detrimental it can be when it goes undetected. God gave us the strength to forgive so that we could move forward with His plans for our lives.’