The news posted on this page may be of interest to the many friends of Jan Saulsbury Barnum who was a member of the PSJA Class of 1963.  Many who currently live in the Valley, are aware of her recent tragic, violent death.  Those of you who live elsewhere may not have access to subsequent events in that story.  If you are not aware of her death, Jan was strangled to death by her grand-daughter and two male friends.  The following article was published on The Monitor’s web site today.                  DLS

 

 

Thursday, May 29, 2003   9:25 pm

To Be Tried as Adults - - Trio of teenage suspects could face 99 years in prison if found guilty of murder

By Sarah Ovaska

The Monitor



EDINBURG — Three Pharr teenagers will be tried as adults and now face five to 99 years in prison, if convicted of murdering the 57-year-old grandmother of one of the teens.

Judge Edward Aparicio, of the 92nd state District Court, issued his his ruling Thursday morning.

“The totality of the circumstances illustrates that it was an unconscionable and senseless death,” he said. “The fact that these individuals are minors does not lessen the crime.”

The body of Jan Barnum was found strangled March 5 in a Pharr apartment. Her granddaughter, Meghan Adams, 16, and two of Adams’ friends confessed to police hours after the murder that they were involved. The confessions came after Barnum’s body was discovered by Pharr police.

Adams, Christopher Lozano, 15, and Francisco Javier Macias, 15, left the courtroom with little expression after Aparicio’s ruling to charge them as adults.

Outside of the courtroom, Adams hugged her great-grandmother, Shirley Saulsbury, the mother of the victim, and cried while juvenile probation officers stood by with handcuffs. Saulsbury on Wednesday asked the court to try Adams as a juvenile.

The teenagers are being held at the Hidalgo County Jail in cells separate from the general population, said Capt. Roy Quintanilha of the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Department.

“They’re here and they’ll be placed in observation cells,” he said.

Aparicio set bond for each defendant at $1 million. As of Thursday night, none of the three teenagers had made bail. Since March, the three have been at the Hidalgo County Juvenile Detention Center in Edinburg.

Hidalgo County district attorney Rene Guerra on Friday said the rehabilitation methods available locally within the juvenile justice system are not adequate in a murder of this sort.

“I don’t know how to rehabilitate a 15-year-old murderer,” Guerra said. “I’m not a clergyman in that regards trying to save someone from their sins.”

The victim’s blood was found on the clothing of all three defendants, said Roy Valdez, assistant district attorney.

Daniel Reyes, defense attorney for Adams, said his client plans to challenge Aparicio’s ruling.

“She does wish to appeal the decision,” Reyes said.

Neither Lozano, defended by Luis Singleterry, nor Macias, defended by Rogelio Garza, will appeal the decision to be tried as adults.

“You made a decision, Judge, and we’re ready to go forward,” Garza said in court.

A grand jury will meet next week in order to issue indictments for all three, a standard practice when a case is switched from juvenile to adult criminal court, Valdez said.

The certification to be tried as adults was not a surprise, Singleterry said.

“We anticipated this would happen,” said Singleterry, who believes his client should remain in the juvenile criminal system. “The juvenile system has the means to rehabilitate Christopher (Lozano).”

Throughout testimony given in the certification hearings, Singleterry stressed that confessions from the three teens were conflicting and did not specifically name Lozano as directly participating in the murder.

Barnum, Adams’ legal guardian, was discovered dead in her apartment by Pharr Police Officer Javier Gallegos, who was taking Adams home after the three teens said they were running away from home to go to Louisiana. They also confessed to police that Macias strangled Barnum with a school ribbon in order to take the woman’s car.

Macias gave a statement to police later that night that Adams wanted her grandmother killed and provided the ribbon and that Lozano held the victim’s legs while Macias strangled her.

Adams testified that Macias strangled her grandmother against her wishes. According to Adams’ written statement, she began crying after the death of her grandmother, but then took her grandmother’s purse and car keys. Lozano told police he walked in while Macias was strangling Barnum and told him to stop.

A fourth minor, Jessica Rodriguez, testified in court earlier this week that she and the three others planned five days before the murder to kill Barnum with cockroach poison. There is no evidence that plan was ever put into place, Valdez said.