Jury finds Kearns man guilty of murder in 2022 car dispute

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SALT LAKE CITY — A Kearns man was found guilty of murder and aggravated robbery on Thursday following a three-day jury trial and about 3½ hours of deliberation.

Jared Charles Lance, 43, the jury found, shot and killed Robert Joseph Barrow, 40, in an apartment complex parking lot at 1790 S. West Temple on May 29, 2022.

According to a witness, Lance pulled up behind another vehicle that was parked, got out and shot Barros, who had been sitting in the driver's seat of the car in front of him, the charges said.

They said Barros staggered out of the car before Lance got in and drove off while a second man drove off in the car Lance arrived in, leaving the car a few blocks away. Lance's driver's license and phone were found in the car that was left near the shooting.

Detectives were able to find Lance by tracing Barros' phone to a residence in Kearns.

Charges state that video from the Kearns home shows Lance leaving in one car and coming back in another and, then, in a different set of clothes, burning items in the backyard. A woman at the home reported he had asked to borrow her car to drive to another car.

After the jury delivered a guilty verdict for murder and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies, and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, 3rd District Judge Adam Mow also found Lance guilty of possession of a dangerous weapon as a restricted person, a second-degree felony.

Police said when Lance was arrested, he had been a fugitive for months with a federal warrant for a probation violation, based on an Aug. 2021 conviction for possession of a weapon.

Lance is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 15.