The Beckham County District Court, located on the courthouse’s third floor, was once again packed on Thursday, July 25, as mostly supporters for the prosecution of the late Colter Vaught filled the courtroom.
The defendant, 37-year-old Clayton Hays of Carter, also had a handful of supporters as he went through a preliminary hearing to establish probable cause in his charges of first-degree manslaughter against Vaught.
The State and Hays’s defense were scheduled to address two different hearings. The first was to establish if the prosecution did have enough evidence for probable cause to move forward in Hays’s case.
The second hearing was scheduled to be on immunity for Hays, which was filed by the defense.
In the immunity case, Hays’s attorney had previously requested the hearing, stating in court filings that the defense believes the entire case should be dropped on grounds of self-defense in the January shooting of Vaught.
The Thursday hearing started at 9 am, beginning with the preliminary hearing to establish if probable cause was met.
The prosecution called multiple witnesses on an array of subjects.
Some of the early witnesses in the day testified about an incident that reportedly occurred approximately a month before Hays fatally shot Vaught outside of Vaught’s place of employment last January.
During the December incident near Carter, prosecution witnesses recounted Hays arriving at the home of Vaught’s father, Lynn.
At the time, Lynn was actively dying of cancer and on hospice care.
The witnesses seemed to claim that Hays arrived in an attempt to cause conflict with Vaught.
Other witnesses gave testimony on the January day that Vaught was shot and killed by Hays near Elk City.
Hays reportedly confessed that day, stating at the time he believed Vaught was coming into his semi-truck to harm him.
On that, Judge Brooke Gatlin heard from various law enforcement, emergency responders and witnesses who were on or near the scene at the time of the shooting.
The judge also heard testimony from an ex-girlfriend of Hays’s, who stated that Hays had told her through social media that he would kill Vaught if he could get away with it in the months sometime prior to the shooting.
Both hearings had originally expected to be completed on Thursday.
However, at approximately 7 pm, prosecutors and the defense agreed that completing both hearings was unlikely for that day.
Judge Gatlin agreed. The hearings will resume next Monday morning. This will include a one hour and twenty minute tape of Hays’s interrogation following the January shooting.
The new date will also include Hays’s immunity claims.
Numerous possible outcomes could come after the judge hears all evidence and testimony, including upgraded charges, charges remaining the same, or charges being entirely dropped on the immunity challenge.
It is unclear if Hays will take the stand on Monday.
