FARMINGTON – The six-month saga over the shooting of Janette Osborne came to a close Monday morning, at least in the court’s eyes.

Donna Enman, the 26-year-old girlfriend of Osborne’s son Joshua, signed off on a plea agreement that will put her behind bars at a state detention facility for the next two years.

In exchange for the state dropping an attempted murder charge and one of two hindering apprehension or prosecution charges she has been indicted on, Enman pleaded guilty to the other hindering charge.

Judge Joseph Jabar sentenced her to five years in prison with all but two suspended followed by four years of probation.

Earlier this month, 23-year-old Joshua Osborne pleaded guilty to criminal solicitation to commit murder, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and tampering with a witness and was ordered to serve the same sentence as his girlfriend. However, he will serve the sentence in Franklin County.

“Josh got the good deal,” Enman said, adding she would have preferred to stay in Franklin County.

Blowing her bangs up as she approached the stand with her lawyer, Enman, wearing a pink sweater, black slacks and tall tan boots, admitted to Jabar with a throaty voice that she was “guilty” of a Class B Felony for helping Joshua hide the guns used in the shooting.

As Assistant District Attorney Jim Andrews outlined the facts of the case – Janette had been shot in the chest with a .22 while hanging laundry and then her tires hit with bullets from a gun fired by Joshua as she drove herself to the hospital – Enman started to cry.

While Janette Osborne admitted to authorities that she saw her son with a rifle when he was shooting at her car, she said she still didn’t know who fired the bullet that ripped through her chest, Andrews said.

As Jabar read the sentence, Enman tugged her lip with her teeth, and rapped her fingers on the rail surrounding the judge’s bench and prosecution and defense tables.

Afterward, as the court took a recess, Enman sat with several others, awaiting transport to the jail, laughing and talking about the case and saying the state “was mad” because she “mucked up their investigation” and asking where and how Joshua was. “I am really mad at him,” she said, “but I want to see him and say hi.”

She might not have the chance. She was being transported to a state facility as soon as possible, according to Deputy Albert Smith.

Enman spoke to her mother via cellphone, telling her several times through her tears that she was sorry and that she loved her.

Andrews said he is “relieved” the saga is over, but admitted that it’s frustrating that Janette Osborne’s shooter never was convicted.

“These were compromising sentences,” he said. “Someone should have paid a bigger price for firing a gun that injured Janette Osborne. In a perfect world, someone would have taken responsibility.”

Andrews said the state agreed to the deal because it could not prove without a reasonable doubt that either Joshua or Enman shot Janette Osborne.

“A lot of hours went into this and that resulted in a compromise and I am OK with that. I don’t feel like any great injustice has been done.”

While many family members sided with Joshua and Enman throughout the saga, angered that the mother was selling the farm that had allegedly been promised to Joshua and telling the couple they had to move out, Andrews had only praise for Janette Osborne.

“She was never vindictive,” he said. “She was grounded and didn’t hold grudges or seek retribution.”

Meanwhile, a documentary is being made about Osborne. However, Enman would not sign paperwork that would allow footage from Monday’s court appearance to be included in the film. “I’d rather not make a mockery of my life,” she said, adding that she has a baby boy, born last October, who is named Joshua Osborne Jr.

Enman’s attorney, Phil Mohlar, said it’s that baby that has changed his client. The months since the July shooting have been tough for Enman, he said, and now that she is a new mom, she wants to move on.

“She’s just relieved to have it over,” Mohlar said. “It was incredibly stressful and so now she is going to start looking ahead. A lot of what motivates her at this point in her life is her child. I’ve seen them together. She is very attached to him. So she wants to serve her time and get on with her life.”

The baby will be heading to Florida with Enman’s family and will be raised by her sister while she is in jail.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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