An Arkansas man who killed a World War II veteran last April and pleaded guilty earlier this week to first-degree murder and kidnapping was just sentenced to 40 years in prison, The Daily Citizen reported.
Tommy Lee Trosper, 25, pleaded guilty Monday in White County Circuit Court, in Arkansas, to the first-degree murder and kidnapping of 91-year-old Edward Franklin Vaughn.
As a result of his plea deal, Trosper’s capital murder charge was reduced to a first-degree murder charge.
On April 10, 2017, Vaughn told the White County Sheriff’s Office that two men assaulted and kidnapped him during talks over a vehicle he had for sale.
“The victim followed the two suspects to another location where the suspects then bound his hands and assaulted him,” Public Information Officer Sgt. Heather King said in a news release. “The suspects eventually took the victim back home where he had someone call 911.”
Vaughn was transported to Unity Health White County Medical Center and then to CHI St. Vincent’s in Little Rock. He died from his injuries April 25.
The two men – Trosper and James Don Miller – were initially charged April 12 with kidnapping and second-degree battery, but the day after Vaughn died, the charges were changed to capital murder.
Miller is currently being held in the White County Detention Center without bail.
