By Scott Carlson
North Platte Post
NORTH PLATTE, Neb.-A North Platte man has been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a man in May.
According to Lincoln County District Court records, a jury convicted Keith Allen, 45, of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Brett Torres in May of last year.
According to court records, prosecutors said that on May 22, 2020, at around 2:32 p.m., Allen shot Torres multiple times with a .45 caliber handgun in an alley at A and Chestnut Streets in North Platte.
Police arrived and found Torres in a vehicle unresponsive and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Records say Torres was transported to Great Plains Health where he died from his injuries.
A statement from the North Platte Police Department says Allen called 911 and reported that he had shot Torres in self-defense. Police did not report finding any weapons in Torres' possession or inside the vehicle.
According to Nebraska statutes, A person commits murder in the first degree if he or she kills another person (1) purposely and with deliberate and premeditated malice, or (2) in the perpetration of or attempt to perpetrate any sexual assault in the first degree, arson, robbery, kidnapping, hijacking of any public or private means of transportation, or burglary, or (3) by administering poison or causing the same to be done; or if by willful and corrupt perjury or subornation of the same he or she purposely procures the conviction and execution of any innocent person. The determination of whether murder in the first degree shall be punished as a Class I or Class IA felony shall be made pursuant to sections 29-2519 to 29-2524.
Following a jury trial that began last week, the jury returned the conviction for first-degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony after deliberating for only a few hours.
Allen's sentencing is set for Dec. 10. Allen faces five to 50 years in prison on the use of a weapon charge, first-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence.