SAN DIEGO : Teen Faces Murder Charge as an Adult

A 16-year-old Orange County boy was ordered Monday to stand trial as an adult for murder in the deaths of three people in a Holiday Inn after two of the victims made advances toward his girlfriend.

Desmond Payton is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on three counts of murder and two special-circumstance allegations that could bring a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Juvenile Court Judge Federico Castro ordered that Payton, who is being held without bail, be tried as an adult.

The teen-ager, who moved from San Diego to Orange County several months before the shootings, is charged with the May 4 slaying of his friends, Moses Gadson and Derrick Robinson, both 19.

The attack at the Holiday Inn in Kearny Mesa, in which both men were shot in the head, “appears to have been motivated by the fact that the two male victims made advances to Payton’s girlfriend,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Carlos Armour said. Also fatally shot was Jennifer Lucas, 18.

Payton’s girlfriend, who was not a victim, was not present during the shootings.

Armour has already filed special charges alleging that Payton committed multiple murders and that he was lying in wait. While there is no death penalty for juveniles, if convicted Payton could be sentenced to life in prison.