The state Superior Court on Wednesday denied the appeal of a Lehigh County teenager who engineered the brutal murder of her mother to overturn her 35 years to life sentence.

Jamie L. Silvonek, now 16, had appealed a lower court ruling that denied her bid to be tried as a juvenile in the March 14, 2015 murder of her mother, 54-year-old Cheryl L. Silvonek, a Jim Thorpe High School graduate.

The three-judge Superior Court panel considered the 22-page Lehigh County court ruling in arriving at its own decision to deny The ruling, by judges Anne E. Lazarus, Paula Francisco Ott, and James J. Fitzgerald III, was filed Aug. 9.

The judges' reasoning

"Despite her age, Silvonek was not amenable to rehabilitation in the juvenile system and the adult system would be better able to provide her with the help she requires," the judges wrote.

Silvonek's mother opposed her then 14-year old daughter's sexual relationship with 20-year old Army Spc. Caleb G. Barnes.

Silvonek, the judges wrote, "was the instigator and willing participant in the murder of her mother."Silvonek's appeal.

In their ruling, the judges cited numerous texts from Silvonek to Barnes on the day they killed her mother, including "She needs to go, Caleb. Right now. You don't understand."

They also cited trial testimony from forensic psychiatrist, John S. O'Brien.

He found Silvonek to be "a highly intelligent and manipulative young woman" who was not a "fearful or emotionally overpowered passive participant in the pre-planned, premeditated murder of her mother."

"Silvonek, even at her young age, had become an adept liar and emotional manipulator of those around her," he said.