A man convicted of killing his homeowner’s adult son with a sawed-off shotgun is entitled to a new trial because the presiding judge did not instruct jurors on a possible self-defense argument, the state says. The Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday.
A three-judge panel reversed the first-degree murder conviction of Ronald Wayne Vaughan Jr. in the 2017 shooting death of Gary Somerset. Vaughn was on the porch of his rented trailer in Lincoln County, holding a weapon, when Somerset yelled “I’m done with this” and lunged at Vaughn, according to Tuesday’s opinion. The two and Somerset’s mother had been in a heated argument. Mr. Bourne was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Possession of a gun like the one Vaughn used (a Winchester .410-caliber shotgun with a sawn-off barrel that can be easily concealed and potentially more destructive) is a felony, and Vaughn was also charged with the crime. Convicted.
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The state’s “stand your ground” law requires a person to use force if he or she “reasonably believes that force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to oneself.” is justified and there is no obligation to withdraw. However, it may not be available if the person committed a felony at the time.
A state Supreme Court ruling after Vaughn’s case in 2021 narrowed that exception, saying it needed to be determined that no injury occurred to anyone other than the person possessing the weapon.
A North Carolina man has been found eligible for a new trial in the fatal shooting of his homeowner’s son with a sawed-off shotgun.
Court of Appeals Judge Allegra Collins wrote in a brief Tuesday that while she acknowledged the trial judge lacked the state Supreme Court’s ruling, the jury should have been instructed on the standstill clause. .
Somerset temporarily lived in the home with Vaughn, and shortly before the shooting, her mother told Vaughn to leave the trailer, which Vaughn tore apart, according to the opinion. Vaughn tried unsuccessfully to call 911 on his iPad and then told Somerset and his mother from the porch that they had to leave, the opinion said.
“The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the defendant, is that the jury found that the defendant’s use of deadly force was justified and that there was no causal connection between the disqualifying felony and his use of deadly force.” may have supported the decision,” Collins wrote.
He added that prosecutors incorrectly told jurors that the stand-your-ground clause did not apply in this case. Judges Hunter Murphy and Valerie Zachary agreed with her opinion.
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The Appeals Board found no error in his convictions for mass murder and possession of weapons of destruction, resulting in a maximum prison sentence of almost two-and-a-half years. The judges ordered Vaughn to be sentenced this time, taking into account his credit for pretrial confinement.
