District court jury hands Barron two-year prison sentence

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A 132nd Judicial District Court jury handed down the minimum sentence to Juan Ramon Barron a day after convicting him for murder.
The five-man, seven-woman jury sentenced Barron to two years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) for murdering Joshua Hoover, of Snyder, in the early morning hours of Jan. 24, 2016 at Barron’s former residence in Snyder.
The normal sentence range for murder is between five and 99 years, or life, in prison. However, the jury returned an affirmative finding that Barron acted on the basis of sudden passion arising from adequate cause, which reduced the prison term range to between two and 20 years.
Witness statements showed that Hoover and Benjamin Bruns, of Victoria, approached the home of Juan and Jamai Nicole Barron at about 4 a.m. on the offense date, clad in black, wearing black masks and displaying a .45-caliber pistol.
The two men were immediately confronted by both Juan and Jamai Barron and, in the ensuing struggle, both Bruns and Hoover received fatal gunshot wounds to the head.
Late Tuesday, the jury found Jamai Barron not guilty of murder and aggravated assault charges in Hoover’s death and Juan Barron not guilty in Bruns’ killing, while convicting him of Hoover’s murder.
During the penalty phase of the trial Wednesday, defense attorney Bruce Patton urged the jury to assess the minimum sentence, while at the same time stopping just short of accusing them of having racist and other suspect motives.
“Have you already made up your mind about this Mexican?” Patton asked, pointing toward Barron. “You might not have said it out loud, but were you thinking, ‘Oh, it’s just a Mexican?’”
Patton also raised the notion that the jury had been swayed by a vocal minority during their deliberations.
“It just appears that some of you had an agenda, and forced that agenda on everybody else,” Patton said. “Didn’t anybody put themselves in Juan’s shoes on the night that this happened? Do you already have your minds made up, or are you going to go back and talk about it?”
At times, Patton sounded like a cheerleader, telling the jury, “Come on. You can do it,” while urging them to return an affirmative finding on the “sudden passion” issue.
Patton’s comments drew a sharp rejoinder from District Attorney Ben Smith.
“I was very puzzled by the suggestion that you reached your verdict based on an agenda or it was tainted by racism,” Smith said. “What really bothers me is that I think his remarks were an attempt to sway you, or intimidate you, and that makes me mad.”
While not suggesting a sentence to the jury, Smith asked them to send a message that criminal behavior would not be tolerated in Snyder and Scurry County.
“Drugs were involved in this, and when they are, you don’t have to worry about whether this sort of thing will happen,” he said. “You need to send a message to these people that, if you want to do this kind of stuff, go somewhere else, but don’t do it here.”
Juan Barron and Jamai Barron are scheduled to return to court on Nov. 13 to be arraigned on charges of tampering with evidence for hiding the bodies under the house. Juan Barron is also facing aggravated assault charges for attacking Bruns. 
Jamai Barron is also facing a second degree felony charge of possession of a controlled substance for allegedly possessing more than one gram, but less than four grams, of cocaine at the time of her arrest.