YORK COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – Family, friends, and fellow police officers showed up to a second bond hearing for the man charged with killing retired Rock Hill Police lieutenant Larry Vaughan, a man they say not just served the community but always looked out for his family too.
At today’s hearing those closest to him remembered his laughs as they begged the judge to deny bond for 27 year old Evan Hawthorne who is charged with Vaughan’s murder in July of last year.
Ultimately the judge decided to grant bond to Hawthorne with bail set at 250,000 dollars.
that was quite a relief to hawthorn’s family who also packed the courtroom. The decision comes with several conditions including that Hawthorne will wear an ankle monitor, have a curfew, and have no access to any weapons.
While Vaughan’s family and friends say they were crushed by the decision, Hawthorne’s family feels Christmas came early for them.
Vaughan had been retired from law enforcement for 8 months at the time of his death. He’d been with the rock hill police department for more than 30 years. Hawthorn on the other hand was a former Chester County Deputy.
Lawyers say the two men did not know each other before the murder but surveillance video shows they met at a rock hill bar, drank together to the point of falling over and were so intoxicated they were asked to leave the bar.
