Eavan Castaner, 17 years old, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and misdemeanor stalking in Natrona County District Court. He killed his ex-girlfriend Lene'a Brown, 17, in May this year. He faces a sentence of 20 years to life imprisonment.
Conway Brown is Lene’a’s uncle. He said the family was upset with the long-term repercussions of the sentencing. Pointing to threatening text messages sent and harassment before the killing, the Brown family believes a first-degree murder charge, with Castaner tried as an adult, would have been the appropriate sentencing.
“He is getting a 301”, said Conway, referring to a Wyoming statute that allows minors to be eligible for parole after 25 years, even if sentenced to life imprisonment. “Once he's done with his sentencing, he won't have a criminal background. So once he's done with all his time, it's just swept under the rug.”
According to Casper Police, assault is far and away the leading crime among juvenile suspects. Members of the Casper community have asked public officials to take action after Brown’s death and a similar act of youth violence that killed Bobby Maher, 14, this summer.
Casper Tries to Comprehend
In a conversation with the Brown family before the plea, they expressed frustration, anger and sadness with the events of the past year. Tony Brown, Lene’a’s mother, said that this all could have been avoided.
The common sentiment from all family members was a feeling that they weren’t being taken seriously. Be it Lene’a’s Native identity, her roots on the Wind River Reservation, the sight of a teen voicing fear of another teen or a city that wasn’t interested, the Brown family saw an angry young person make threats to their daughter as if there were no consequences.
“She told her dad, she told his parents, that he was harassing her and nothing was done about it,” said Tony.
Lene’a and Eavan were in a relationship prior to the events of May 14th. They dated for around a year, breaking up in April. Oil City News reports that Castaner had made threats over text, and was behaving erratically and violently, leading up to the shooting.
“There were 37 minutes before somebody did call the police and nobody took it seriously. You know, like, ‘Oh, it's just kids,’” said Tony.
Alicia Rivas, a close family friend of the Browns, and organizer of the march, organized at David Station, saw close to 100 people, according to Conway, and featured supportive flags, community conversation, and family speakers. Rivas gave idea for a solution.
“I think if we had … like a system for youth to be able to say, ‘Okay, we heard [or] see a threat, what is the next step?’” Rivas said, as members of the Brown family nodded their heads in agreement.
“Maybe tell a parent, maybe tell law enforcement, [but] take it seriously where it can be prevented. Because these deaths would have been prevented if the [authorities] would have [taken] threats seriously,” Rivas said.
The family plans to have another vigil at a yet to be determined time to draw attention to youth violence in Casper and around the state. They’ll be working with community groups and, according to Conway Brown, trying to find as many allies in the community as they can, with the hope of making Wyoming safer for youth.
