Opinion ID: 1057949
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Original Criminal Trials [1]

Text: The petitioners, James Vaughn (J. Vaughn) and Rearno Vaughn (R. Vaughn), were tried and convicted of crimes arising out of the same incident that took place in the early morning hours of July 2, 1995. [2] At that time, a group of friends had gathered outside a restaurant known as Wing-Its, located in Gallatin, Tennessee. Parked in a gravel lot across the street was a trailer portion of a tractor trailer. Suddenly, two men came around the side of the trailer, and one said What's up now, mother ____. Both men had guns and a flurry of gunfire ensued. The crowd scattered, with several people fleeing into the restaurant and others running down the street. Four of those present were injured: Ardell Williams suffered five gunshot wounds to his left thigh and left ankle; Chris Williams suffered one gunshot wound to the buttocks; Tallis Bonds was shot once in the back of his right thigh and once in the foot; and Tyrone Smith was shot once in the left upper abdomen and was also shot in his left thigh. Mr. Smith died four days after the incident as a result of his wounds. With respect to Mr. Ardell Williams' injuries, testing on his clothes revealed that two of his gunshot wounds resulted from contact shots, meaning the muzzle was either touching the garment or less than three inches away. The observations of what transpired differed among the various witnesses. Two men identified only J. Vaughn as the shooter, one identified only R. Vaughn, while two others identified both men. After the shootings, a large scale search was conducted for both J. Vaughn and R. Vaughn. Police received information that both J. Vaughn and R. Vaughn were in Sheffield, Alabama, staying with relatives. When officers observed one of the suspects driving away from that residence, they decided to stop the vehicle and arrest the suspect. The driver of the car was R. Vaughn, who initially ran from the officers but was quickly apprehended. Officers then obtained a warrant to search the Alabama residence for J. Vaughn. During this time, R. Vaughn was pleading with officers to allow him to talk J. Vaughn into coming out of the house. The search of the living space of the home revealed nothing. However, two handguns were discovered in the attic, which was accessible through the top of a closet. One was a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, and the other was a Smith and Wesson .38 model 10 revolver with the serial number filed off of it. None of the occupants of the home claimed ownership of these guns. Ballistics testing revealed that the seized .357 Magnum had been used in the shootings. J. Vaughn was finally apprehended as the result of a routine traffic stop on September 14, 1995, outside Cincinnati, Ohio. At both trials, the juries were instructed as to the range of sentences and release eligibility for each of the indicted offenses and the lesser-included offenses. The trial court stated that if the jury found the defendant guilty of first degree murder, the trial court would impose a sentence of life in prison, which required the prisoner to serve a minimum of twenty-five years before becoming eligible for parole. However, at the time of trial, the applicable statute provided that a person convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison must serve at least fifty-one years before becoming eligible for parole. No objection was made at either trial to the erroneous jury instruction. On May 31, 1996, the jury convicted J. Vaughn of the first degree premeditated murder of Tyrone Smith, the attempted first degree murder of Ardell Williams, the attempted second degree murder of Tallis Bonds, the attempted second degree murder of Chris Williams, and felony reckless endangerment. [3] He automatically received a life sentence for the first degree murder conviction. At a subsequent sentencing hearing, J. Vaughn received sentences of twenty-two years for the attempted first degree murder, twelve years on each count of attempted second degree murder, and two years for the reckless endangerment conviction. Those sentences were ordered to be served concurrently to one another, but consecutive to the life sentence, for an effective sentence of life plus twenty-two years. The convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal. On August 28, 1996, the jury convicted R. Vaughn of the first degree murder of Tyrone Smith, the attempted first degree murder of Ardell Williams, the attempted first degree murder of Keith Goodrich, the attempted second degree murder of Chris Williams, the attempted second degree murder of Tallis Bonds, and one count of reckless endangerment. The trial court sentenced R. Vaughn to life imprisonment for the first degree murder, thirty-five years for each count of attempted first degree murder, eighteen years for each count of attempted second degree murder, and four years for reckless endangerment. The attempted murder and reckless endangerment sentences were ordered to run concurrent with each other but consecutive to the first degree murder sentence, resulting in an effective sentence of life imprisonment plus thirty-five years. These convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal.