Vaughan guilty of sex assault

By JOHN BURNETT

Tribune-Herald staff writer

A man convicted of raping an adopted child in Arkansas was found guilty Thursday of molesting three former stepchildren on the Big Island.

A Hilo Circuit Court jury convicted 57-year-old Gary Keith Vaughan of eight counts of first-degree sex assault, three of attempted first-degree sex assault, and 10 of third-degree sex assault.

"I feel that it's a fair and just verdict and I'm happy for the victims that they finally got justice," Deputy Prosecutor Shannon Kagawa said afterwards.

Judge Glenn Hara set a sentencing date of Aug. 18 at 1 p.m. If sentenced to consecutive terms, Vaughan faces a possible 230 years in prison. If all terms are concurrent, he'll be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years.

Kagawa said it hasn't been decided if consecutive terms will be sought.

The state plans to seek the maximum (sentence) allowed under the law," she said.

The offenses took place between 1997 and 2003 and the victims were all minors at that time. They are now a 23-year-old woman, who has since moved to Arkansas, a 22-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl, both Big Island residents.

Vaughan stood with his court-appointed attorney, Keith Shigetomi, as the verdict was read. He stared, unblinking, at the jurors for awhile, then shook his head in apparent disbelief.

At one point, Vaughan put his right hand over his heart, pointed at the jury box and said, softly, "I forgive you."

When he spoke, Hara said: "Mr. Vaughan, you may be seated." He repeated himself when Vaughan didn't immediately comply.

The mother of the three victims, who'd been accused by Vaughan and Shigetomi of fabricating the charges and instructing the children to lie to authorities, was in the half-full courtroom. She and Vaughan have since divorced.

Also present were Vaughan's brother, Robert, and two of his sons, Isaac, 27, and Matthew, 25. Matthew Vaughan buried his head in his hands when the verdict was read.

"I don't see how an innocent man can be convicted on shaky testimonies and lies, basically. It's hard," said Isaac Vaughan. "... I knew that family; I lived with them. I knew that nothing was going on."

A jury in Booneville, Ark., convicted Vaughan in 1998 of two counts of raping an adopted child, and sentenced Vaughan to two life terms. The Arkansas Supreme Court denied his appeal, but a lower court judge granted Vaughan a new trial, ruling that he had an incompetent lawyer.

The victim in Arkansas case, Melissa Crossland, told the Tribune-Herald in 2007 that she didn't want to go through another trial. Arkansas prosecutors then struck a plea bargain with Vaughan. In exchange for pleading guilty to a sexual abuse charge, he was given a 10-year suspended prison sentence. He spent about 20 months in custody, and was required to register as a sex offender in Arkansas.

According to Arkansas court records, Crossland, now 35, testified that Vaughan raped her repeatedly from 1983 until she reported his actions in 1994, a few weeks before her 19th birthday.

Vaughan remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center, where he's been for nearly five years, unable to post bail that originally was $500,000 and later reduced to $200,000.