Teen accused of shooting girl to be tried in adult court

LOGAN, Utah – A judge in Utah ruled Wednesday that a teenage boy accused of shooting a 14-year-old girl will be tried in adult court.

First District Juvenile Court Judge Angela Fonnesbeck said that the 16-year-old boy's alleged actions were premeditated, and that it is clear he intended to kill Deserae Turner.

"He planned and he acted," said Fonnesbeck, after a two-day hearing on the matter this week. "He pulled the trigger."

The teenager's family said on Tuesday that the boy was a kind peacemaker, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

But a local detective testified that authorities found hyperlinks on the boy's phone connected to a website featuring such extreme violence as executions.

The boy is one of two teenagers accused of plotting to kill Turner.

The judge ruled on Monday that the second teenager, who was charged with helping his friend plot to kill Turner, will also be tried in adult court.

The Associated Press is not naming the boys because they are juveniles.

Turner nearly died after being shot in the head and left in a ditch in the small northern Utah town of Smithfield in February.

Authorities have said the two 16-year-old boys concocted the plan while playing video games and discussing their desire to "get rid" of Turner, who was texting one of them. Turner was found in the early morning of Feb. 17 in a dry canal about 90 miles north of Salt Lake City.

Turner spent more than two months in a hospital.

Both boys have been charged with attempted aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and obstruction of justice.