Rape convict to get mental health evaluation
Vaughn James
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POLSON – A 44-year-old man who was convicted of rape following a re-trial in July had his sentence postponed last week.
On Oct. 16, Vaughn James’ attorney Amanda Marvin requested that her client be evaluated at the state mental hospital in Warm Springs prior to sentencing.
Judge Kim Christopher granted Marvin’s request on Oct. 19 over the objection of prosecuting attorney Brendan McQuillan, who said Marvin was required to present any evidence about her client’s mental health issues at trial or at an omnibus hearing prior to trial.
“It’s too late,” McQuillan said, calling such a request “an abuse at this point.” He added that Marvin was changing her theory about her client 180 degrees, referring to James’ testimony at trial about his mental state.
McQuillan referred to Marvin’s request that he said contained information about her client’s brain injury and post traumatic stress and bipolar disorders.
In response, Marvin said James’ mental health issues were disclosed to her in “piecemeal fashion,” adding that she found out about it two weeks before the Oct. 19 hearing.
She said James had been hospitalized “just days before the offense” and that he had been diagnosed with a mental disorder. According to testimony at trial, the rape took place in the wee hours of Sept. 17, 2016 at a downtown Polson apartment.
Christopher apologized to the 54-year-old victim for the delay and set a status hearing for Nov. 2. She said that all of James’ criminal history stretching back to his years as a juvenile, including charges that he was not convicted of, would be considered as part of the mental health evaluation.
James had defeated a rape charge at a June trial when the jury split 10-2 in favor of conviction. That was the third such rape trial that James had overcome. One ended in a not guilty verdict in Missoula County in 2011, and the other resulted in a hung jury by a vote of 11-1 in favor of a conviction in Lake County the same year. The alleged victim in the latter case committed suicide so the state was unable to retry the case, said James Lapotka, the deputy county attorney who tried that case. All three cases were similar in that James allegedly broke into a home and raped a woman during the night while she was asleep, Lapotka said.
James has had a lengthy criminal history since age 9, a court document states.
After James was convicted of rape in July, McQuillan motioned for and the court dismissed without prejudice two separate charges for drug possession and failure to notify authorities of his address, a probation violation.
