San Diego : Teen Will Be Tried as Adult in Slayings
A 16-year-old boy who was ordered to stand trial as an adult pleaded not guilty Wednesday to three counts of murder stemming from an execution-style killing at the Kearny Mesa Holiday Inn in May.
Desmond Payton, a lifelong county resident who had moved to Orange County just before the shooting, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole because prosecutors have alleged that he committed multiple murders and that he was lying in wait during the attack.
Municipal Judge Robert P. McDonald ordered Payton held without bail pending a preliminary hearing on Nov. 18.
According to Deputy Dist. Atty. Carlos Armour, Payton “basically executed three people because two were flirting with his girlfriend.”
After his girlfriend told him about the flirting, Payton went to the hotel and shot Moses Gadson and Derrick Robinson, both 19, and Jennifer Lucas, 18, who was sitting with the two men, Armour said, adding that Payton had been to their room only hours before the shooting.
The prosecutor reported that Payton told his girlfriend and two others about the slayings, and they have cooperated with authorities.
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