A Utah girl, who was shot in the head by a teenage boy and left in a ditch to die at 14 years old, faced her attacker in court as he was sentenced.
‘You shouldn’t have messed with me, because I am tougher than a bullet,’ Deserae Turner said Thursday at a hearing where Colter D. Peterson, 17, was sentenced.
Peterson was given at least 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated attempted murder and robbery.
‘Welcome to hell. I have been here for a year now,’ Turner said to Peterson as he wiped tears from his eyes.
Utah teen, Deserae Turner (pictured with her mother April Turner), now 15, who was shot in the head by Colter D. Peterson and left in a ditch to die, faced her attacker in court as he was sentenced to at least 15 years in jail on Thursday
Peterson (right) was given at least 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated attempted murder and robbery
‘Welcome to hell. I have been here for a year now,’ Turner (center with her parents) said to Peterson as he wiped tears from his eyes
Turner told a judge she considered Peterson a friend before the shooting, when she did karate, rode horses and played the saxophone.
Now 15, she struggles to walk, dress herself and function through seizures and debilitating headaches, she said.
‘There are times I wish I could give the gun back to Colter and tell him to try again and put me out of my misery,’ Deserae said.
The crime has likely ruined his life, he said at the hearing, but it pales in comparison to what happened to Turner.
Defense attorney Mike McGinnis said Peterson is not a monster but was depressed at the time of the shooting
Defense attorney Mike McGinnis said Peterson is not a monster but was depressed at the time of the shooting and gave in to peer pressure.
‘I think Colter is a good kid who did something really horrible,’ the lawyer said.
Prosecutors, though, said Peterson had threatened to kill another girl in 2014 and tried to lure her to a cemetery at night because he thought she was annoying.
Peterson and another teen friend concocted a plan in February 2017 while playing video games and discussing their desire to ‘get rid’ of Turner, who was messaging Peterson, prosecutors said.
The pair lured her to a dry canal bed, where she was shot and then left near Smithfield, about 90 miles north of Salt Lake City, prosecutors said.
Turner was found alive after an overnight search.
She was hospitalized for two months and has had hundreds of appointments with doctors since her release.
The second boy, Jayzon Decker, has also pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated murder and felony obstruction of justice.
Decker will be sentenced on February 7.
Peterson (pictured in court in October) and another teen friend concocted a plan in February 2017 while playing video games and discussing their desire to ‘get rid’ of Turner, who was messaging Peterson, prosecutors said
The pair lured Turner (left and right, before the shooting) to a dry canal bed, where she was shot and then left near Smithfield, about 90 miles north of Salt Lake City, prosecutors said
Turner was found alive after an overnight search in this ditch