Scott College was 16 when he shot four family members with an assault rifle. Prosecutors called him cold-blooded, but defense attorneys say serious mental illness prompted him to kill his family. A New Jersey teenager shot four family members with a falling semi-automatic rifle bullet shortly before death on New Year's Eve. 

On Thursday, Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Mark C. Lemieux reversed the verdict of Scott Collogy, now 20, of Long Branch. The latter was found guilty on all charges in February, including four counts of first-degree murder.

"The aim of this trial is that the accused never again see the light outside the prison cell," Lemyo said, according to the Asbury Park Press. "I hope you realize the magnitude of what you have done here one day."

On New Year's Eve, at a family party, 16-year-old Cologne killed and killed his sister, 18-year-old Brittany Cologne, his mother, 44-year-old Linda Cologne, 42-year old father -Stephen Cologne aged, all from Long Branch were friends of his grandfather, Mary, 70-year-old Schultz from Ocean Township.

Lawyers for Zoology allege in court Thursday that their client's severe mental illness prompted him to kill his family; The lawyers asked for a 30-year prison sentence.

"He was a mentally ill child who asked his mother for help and never got it," defense attorney Emeka Nquoo said, according to Asbury Park Press. Evidence at trial showed that Kologi's mother didn't want her son to tell his therapist he was thinking about killing people because she was afraid he would be hospitalized, Asbury Park Press reported.

Monmouth County Attorney General Sean Brennan later advocated a much harsher sentence. "This was a malicious act perpetrated by someone who knew exactly what they were doing," Brennan said, according to a prosecutor's statement. "He killed him because he could. He killed him because he wanted to."

The teenager pulled the trigger 14 times, Assistant District Attorney Monmouth Caitlin J. Sidley said in a statement. Twelve of the shots hit the victim.

During the trial, Brennan emphasized that Kologi planned the murder. He checked "whether the weapon he was using would be effective against the intervening police, who were wearing bulletproof vests," the statement said.