A decision Wednesday by a juvenile justice judge means both teens accused in the shooting of a 14-year-old Cache Valley girl will be tried as adults.
After two days of listening to his parents testify that their son was depressed but kind, First District Juvenile Court Judge Angela Fonnesbeck turned 16 year-old Colter Peterson over to 1st District Court to be tried as an adult.
“He planned and he acted,” Fonnesbeck said. “He pulled the trigger and he took deliberate action.”
Peterson and his friend Jayzon Decker are charged with attempted aggravated murder for the shooting of Deserae Turner. The girl was found on February 16, 2017 in a Smithfield canal. She had been shot in the back of the head.
Turner’s mother testified during both hearings saying that despite surgeries the bullet will remain in her daughters head for life. April Turner says Deserae is partially blind, unable to move her left arm and shoulder, and still struggles to feed herself.
Peterson has admitted to shooting Turner as part of a plot between the boys to kill the girl because she was othering them.
Prosecutors pushed for Peterson and Decker to be tried as adults saying their plan to kill Turner was premeditated, heinous, and demonstrates the two are a risk to society.
Decker and Peterson are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, May 11, in 1st District Court.
