A jury was selected on October 31 for the sentencing of the McKinney teen that killed his mother in January 2021. Jurors will help weigh how long Adam Barney will be jailed.
Last year, Collin County prosecutors argued that the then sixteen-year-old should stand trial as an adult. According to The Dallas Morning News, Barney pleaded guilty to murder Thursday in the death of his mother Stacy Barney. Adam Barney was 15 when he hit his 50-year-old mother with a hammer and choked her to death. Barney also attempted to assault his father with a screwdriver, but Craig Barney was able to flee.
Local Profile previously reported, prosecutors argued that Barney already reached a point in his life where he could not be rehabilitated and must face adult consequences.
The incident occurred in January 2021, days before an ice storm paralyzed North Texas. Collin County residents in a west McKinney neighborhood noticed a police helicopter and several police units as authorities searched for the suspect. Police found the teen the next morning after an extensive search throughout the night.
The boy’s father called the police at about 1 a.m. on January 3, but Stacy Barney was already dead when the police arrived. Authorities said the boy attempted to strike Craig Barney when he found the boy clearing evidence of the crime from the living room.
The mother’s diary noted that she was concerned about her son’s violence and feared that he would eventually cause her family harm. Testimony also showed that the parents hid the kitchen knives in their bedroom to keep them out of immediate reach from their son.
“There is nothing more hurtful than to hear one day he’d kill all of us,” one page of the diary read.
At the time of the initial hearing, a surveillance video determined that Barney was the one to commit the murder, showing him during the act. The Dallas Morning News explained that last week, defense attorney April Steele argued the video is “so shocking our jurors would not be able to entertain other evidence.”
State District Judge Andrea Thompson will allow only portions of the video would be shown to the jury saying, “No one can handle this evidence.” She also explained that the video did not show Barney expressing any regret or remorse for the act he was committing.
During the hearing, Barney's testimony emphasized previous traumas he experienced in the past at the hand of educators and alleged abuse he suffered from during rehabilitation treatment.
Now, Jurors are left to decide on a sentence for Barney between five and 99 years in prison or life in prison.
