The second long-day of testimony in the preliminary hearing of a 37-year-old Carter man, resulted in his charges being upgraded from first-degree manslaughter to first-degree murder with malice aforethought late Monday afternoon. Monday was the second day of testimony in the hearing for Clayton Samson Hays to establish if the State had probable cause to charge him in the shooting death of 42-year-old Sayre graduate Colter Vaught. Also being heard was Hays’s request to drop all charges on claims of self-defense.
The first hearing had been held on July 25 and went until approximately 7 pm, at which point the prosecution, the defense and Judge Gatlin agreed that the hearing could not be completed that evening.
When the hearing resumed on Monday morning, the judge was played Hays’s interrogation tape and 911 call, in which Hays stated that he did not know the identity of the man he had just shot outside an Elk City business.
However, multiple testimonies established that Hays was familiar with Vaught.
Hays also testified on his own behalf in the second hearing. He was questioned by prosecutor Rick McPhearson.
At approximately 4 pm, the hearing was completed.
Judge Gatlin did not agree with the defense’s request to drop charges due to Hay’s self-defense claim.
Judge Gatlin, however, found that the State had established probable cause for the upgraded charge of first-degree murder with malice aforethought.
District Attorney Angela Marsee then filed the new charges in Beckham County District Court on August.
Hays is due back in Beckham County District Court on September 18 at 1:30 pm.
