Dec 7, 2003 By Jennifer Harr 2 min read

An Allison man is scheduled to go to trial Monday on charges that he fatally shot a man last Jan. 11. Torey Vaughn Peterson, 24, of 210 Main St. is charged with criminal homicide for allegedly shooting William Eric Mason in the head during a fight at Hunters Ridge apartments in Redstone Township.

Peterson reportedly told police that he shot Mason, 23, of Jefferson, Greene County, around 4 a.m. after the two got into a tussle with a gun. His attorney, Assistant Public Defender David Kaiser, sought to have those statements suppressed, but a judge ruled they will be admitted at trial.

Kaiser claimed that Peterson did not make his statements voluntarily and that police coerced him to talk. Peterson testified at an earlier hearing on the matter that police told him he would be able to leave the barracks if he told them what happened.

Police, however, testified that they made no such promise to Peterson.

After the shooting, Peterson reportedly called police and turned himself in, but he said he was acting in self-defense.

District Attorney Nancy D. Vernon is seeking a first-degree-murder conviction against Peterson. Such a conviction would result in an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Meanwhile, prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in the case.

The trial will be held before Judge Gerald R. Solomon.

Peterson is incarcerated in a state prison on unrelated charges.