LOGAN, Utah, May 8, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — The first of two 16-year-old boys prosecutors were seeking to try as adults in the attempted murder of Cache County teen Deserae Turner will face charges in an adult court, a judge ruled on Monday.
First District Juvenile Judge Angela Fonnesbeck said that although the boy isn’t suspected of shooting Turner, there is evidence to suggest he may have been the one to develop the plan and to signal to his friend when to shoot the 14-year-old girl.
Turner, left for dead in a dry canal bed in Smithfield and found hours after her Feb. 16 shooting, survived the incident, but faces ongoing therapy and limitations that will last the rest of her life. She has limited control of the left side of her body and lost vision in one eye.
Turner has said she is “tougher than a bullet.” The .22-caliber bullet is lodged in her skull and cannot safely be removed.
A hearing to determine whether the second boy, the suspected shooter, will be tried as a juvenile or adult was set for Monday afternoon.
