43
Suspect has bond reinstated
By joe gorman
youngstown
A man who had his bond revoked Monday for being 20 minutes late to a court hearing had that bond reinstated Wednesday.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court told 35-year-old Terrell Vaughn that he will not get another chance if he appears late before him again.
Vaughn apologized and said it won’t happen again.
“I will be here an hour early next time if I have to,” Vaughn said. “I just want to get home to see my kids.”
“Well, that’s nice,” Judge Krichbaum answered. “But I want you to be here on time and properly dressed.”
Vaughn is accused of taking part in the beating of another man in April. Prosecutors allege Vaughn was in a car with three other men and they got in an argument with the victim, who was in another car. The men in Vaughn’s car then fought the victim and beat him severely.
Krichbaum agreed to a request July 16 to lower Vaughn’s bond.
A hearing was set for 10 a.m. Monday for a motion to suppress evidence in Vaughn’s case, but he and his attorney Doug King told the judge Vaughn also had a pretrial hearing set for 11 a.m. Tuesday. Vaughn said he thought he was showing up early for the pretrial when he was in fact late for the suppression hearing.
King said he sent a letter to his client advising him of both hearings, but it was sent to the county jail while Vaughn was still an inmate, and the letter arrived a couple of days after Vaughn was able to post his bond of $50,000.
Judge Krichbaum said there are no excuses for being late or missing court.
“The defendant has to be here when I want him here. Period,” the judge said.
Judge Krichbaum also denied a request by assistant prosecutor Nicholas Brevetta to postpone the pretrial because he could not locate the victim in the case to see if he would accept a plea bargain being offered to Vaughn. Krichbaum said everyone must be ready to proceed when the schedule dictates.
“That’s just tough luck as far as I’m concerned,” Judge Krichbaum said.
The trial in the case is set to begin Monday.