A Massachusetts man convicted of involuntary manslaughter after he drowned his father in a Duxbury pond was sentenced to prison on Friday.
Jack Callahan, now 22, told police in 2021 that he tried to exorcise a "demon" from his father, 57-year-old Scott Callahan, by baptizing him at Island Creek Pond.
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Callahan, then 19, was originally charged with murder. A jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter at the end of an eight-day trial, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office. On Friday he was sentenced to 4 to 6 years in state prison.
Prosecutors say Callahan's mother called 911 around 2 a.m. on June 28, 2021, reporting that her son was acting erratically. She told police that her ex-husband, the teen's father, was missing in the area of Island Creek Pond.
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When police arrived at the home, they found the younger Callahan distraught and hyperventilating, authorities said. Police and fire crews responded to the pond to find Scott Callahan submerged. He was brought to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth, where he was pronounced dead.
Family members told NBC10 Boston at the time they were shocked and confused by the news.
"He's a good kid," said Callahan's uncle, Bill Hall Jr. "He's smart, he's nice. He's not a violent person."
Investigators determined that Jack Callahan had picked up his father in Boston, and they took a rideshare back to Duxbury, where the two were dropped off near the pond. Prosecutors say there was a physical altercation before the drowning.
The Boston Globe reported that Scott Callahan had walked away from an alcohol abuse treatment center, and that his son picked him up at a Boston bar.
According to the Globe, Jack Callahan said he was exorcising a demon named "Dirty Dan," telling police he gave his father a choice to go to heaven or hell and explaining, "I believe he chose hell."
