Defense attorney questions law enforcement during Rock Hill cop death trial

A deputy sheriff testified Wednesday that handcuffs with the initials of retired Rock Hill police Lt. Larry Vaughan were used to arrest the man accused of killing him four years ago.

The murder trial of Evan Hawthorne, 31, a former Chester County deputy sheriff, continued Wednesday with the defense questioning York County Deputy Joshua Yates, who helped investigate Vaughan’s death. A jury of 12 people, plus three alternates, are hearing evidence this week.

Hawthorne is accused of killing Vaughan after they got drunk in the downtown Rock Hill bar Tattooed Brews and argued, and then Hawthorne went to Vaughan’s home. The York County Sheriff’s Office handled the investigation.

The trial at the Moss Justice Center began on Tuesday, when prosecutors played for jurors the body camera video of investigators interviewing Hawthorne after the death. Hawthorne’s attorneys claim he attacked Vaughan in self defense, but prosecutors allege Hawthorne was angry at Vaughan and went to his apartment to attack him after the argument in the bar.

Prosecutors Wednesday presented crime scene photos and evidence, including video footage of Vaughan and Hawthorne arriving at Vaughan’s apartment. The defense tried to point out mistakes law enforcement made during the investigation, arguing some protocol was not followed.

Yates, who also testified Tuesday, arrested Hawthorne and interviewed him the day after Vaughan was found dead in his downtown Rock Hill apartment by a former colleague at the Rock Hill Police Department. That officer, Allen Cantey, also testified Tuesday.

Questions from defense attorney

Defense attorney Jack Swerling asked Yates about items taken from Vaughan’s apartment that were not photographed and documented as evidence. One of those items were Vaughan’s initialed handcuffs.

Yates said he was present when another deputy sheriff took the handcuffs. Yates didn’t say anything, he said, because that deputy was his boss.

Swerling asked Yates if law enforcement was trying to send a message by using the cuffs, but Yates disputed that.

“It’s already tough what we do day in, day out,” Yates said. “And the handcuffs of somebody that retired, honorably, that’s the only way that we can figure to honor him for his family.”

Swerling also asked questions to try to illustrate that Hawthorne was cooperative with law enforcement during the arrest interview.

Yates confirmed the handcuffs and a folding knife from Vaughan’s pocket were removed without being documented by the sheriff’s office. He said that didn’t follow the proper procedure.

Yates said he didn’t know who took the knife and wasn’t made aware it was removed from Vaughan’s pocket until about two weeks ago. He said he believed Vaughan’s daughter was given the knife.

And the defense attorney also said he never got to physically review Vaughan’s phone, which Yates said he gave to Vaughan’s family. The defense got a digital copy from the sheriff’s office.

Yates also confirmed, when Swerling asked, that he was aware that photos of Hawthorne in the handcuffs circulated on social media. Yates agreed that was improper. Swerling also said the bar owner, who helped Vaughan home the night he died, got a tattoo of the handcuffs on his neck.

Assistant Solicitor Spenser Smith asked Yates if Hawthorne ever mentioned the handcuffs or a weapon. Yates said no. The handcuffs had nothing to do with the case, Smith said, because they were not evidence.

Crime scene evidence in Rock Hill apartment

George Weeks, who was director of forensic services in York County at the time of Vaughan’s death, also testified Wednesday.

Weeks was called to Vaughan’s apartment to photograph and collect evidence. While waiting for a search warrant to enter, Weeks said he saw two swipe marks that appeared to be blood, and a drop of blood in the hallway outside. He said he took sterile swabs of the spots and bagged them.

Prosecutors also showed jurors the photos Weeks took at Vaughan’s apartment. The photos showed Vaughan’s body, which was lying near his front door. His lower body was in the bathroom, while the upper half of his body was in the intersection of his entrance, kitchen and living room.

His face was red and bloody, and blood was on the floor around his head and appeared to have been smeared.

Photos also showed blood on the walls near the kitchen and bathroom. Glasses were near a door, a flip flop was near Vaughan, and water bottles covered Vaughan’s kitchen floor. Beside the bottles was a small piece of flesh.

Weeks said it was from the tip of Vaughan’s left thumb.

Jurors were shown photos from the day after, when Vaughan’s body was removed from the apartment. The blood was dried and Weeks and others from forensics marked the floors and walls to measure the blood stains. One of them, Emily Campbell-Smith, also appeared for witness testimony Wednesday.

Campbell-Smith, who was the DNA technical leader at the time of Vaughan’s death, helped collect and mark DNA evidence and confirmed the swabs were not tampered with.

Weeks said he was present when law enforcement searched Hawthorne’s apartment near Winthrop University, where he was a student. There, he recovered the clothes Hawthorne wore the night he met Vaughan on July 23, 2021.

He said they were in the washer and still wet when he bagged them. A prosecutor showed the green T-shirt and grey shorts to the jury.

Curtis Copeland, a member of Hawthorne’s defense team, questioned Weeks, focusing on the crime scene log and a lack of photos from the hallway.

The two went back and forth on the crime scene log, which tracked who went in and out of the apartment.

The log showed 40 people went in and out of the apartment the day Vaughan was found, Copeland said. Weeks said he was certain that — aside from EMS — he and the coroner were the first to enter the apartment.

The two also disputed what defined the crime scene. Copeland wanted to know how Weeks could be the only one to enter when he was listed at 21 on the list, while Weeks said he believed the log meant people who entered the apartment building, not necessarily Vaughan’s apartment.

Copeland then asked why the blood inside of the apartment was marked and photographed, but the blood in the hallway was not.

Weeks said he took photos of the blood in the hallway the first day he arrived, and marked the blood inside the apartment the next day when they began to take measurements.

The focus then turned to a package Copeland said was moved from outside of Vaughan’s apartment to inside. A photograph from the crime scene showed a cardboard box with a shipping label near Vaughan’s bathroom.

Weeks said he wasn’t sure who moved it or when, but said it may have been moved when Vaughan’s body was removed from the apartment. He doesn’t move anything before photographing it, he said, and he doesn’t move things to rephotograph them.

A prosecutor asked about the removal of Vaughan’s body. Weeks said he was taken out on a gurney, and that it was difficult to transport him out. Things may have been moved to make getting Vaughan out easier, he said.

Discussion of defendant’s tattoo

When the jury was out on a break, the attorneys discussed photos of Hawthorne from the day he was arrested by law enforcement. The photos were of his face and body.

Swerling said he objected to photos of Hawthorne’s tattoos being shown to the jury because he didn’t see their relevance and was worried because some people don’t like tattoos and may affiliate them with gangs.

But the tattoo was already discussed in the body camera footage shown to the jury on Tuesday, Smith pointed out. Hawthorne explained to investigators who interviewed him that his tattoo was a suicide awareness tattoo to honor a friend who died. Additionally, Smith said, nearly half of the population has tattoos. The judge agreed with the assistant solicitor.

Just before the photos were shown to the jury, prosecutors showed video of Vaughan and Hawthorne arriving at Vaughan’s apartment the night they met at the bar. Vaughan is being helped by the bar owner, who helps get him into the building just before midnight.

Hawthorne can be seen behind them, speaking with a fourth person. Vaughan entered first, with the bar owner behind him. It appeared the bar owner stuck his arm out to stop Hawthorne when he tried to follow, but Hawthorne pushed through. All four people went into the building.

A few minutes later, another video showed the bar owner and the fourth person leaving the apartment building without Vaughan or Hawthorne. The next video shown was from almost an hour later, just before 1 a.m., showing Hawthorne leaving the apartment. His face and arms appeared to have a substance on them.

How the handcuffs photo got out

Matthew Piper, a York City police officer who was assigned to the multi-jurisdictional forensic unit when Vaughan died, said it appeared to be a red substance on his arms and face.

One video showed Hawthorne somewhat dragging his feet as he walked out.

Piper described the injuries shown in photos he took of Hawthorne during processing. The photos showed Hawthorne’s swollen right hand, bloody and scabbing knees and elbows, as well as some scratches on his legs and neck, and a gash on one of his big toes. His wrists were red and swollen.

Austin Nichols, another attorney on Hawthorne’s defense team, asked Piper about the photo of handcuffs that circulated on social media.

Piper said he took a photo of Hawthorne in the handcuffs to secure evidence. But he ended up sending the photo to the bar owner after the two built a rapport, he said.

“He asked me that, whenever we catch the suspect, to let him know, due to him and Mr. Vaughan being close,” Piper said.

Piper said he texted him the photo of Hawthorne in Vaughan’s handcuffs the day he was arrested saying, “We got him.” They continued to communicate four days after, Nichols said.

“The next day, you’re giving him evidence because you just felt so compelled to help this guy,” Nichols said.

“Yes,” Piper said.

The bar owner posted the handcuff photo online, Nichols said, and he got a tattoo of them on his neck.

When Nichols asked if it would be against policy to show photographs of evidence, Piper agreed.

Nichols also asked Piper about Hawthorne’s swollen wrist in the photos shown to the jury. He asked if it’s possible they were bruised because the handcuffs were too tight. Piper said it was a possibility.

When asked if handcuffs are supposed to be that tight, Piper said no. They’re not supposed to leave cuts or bruises, he said.

But prosecutor Smith pointed out that cuffs are also not supposed to be comfortable.

He also said the picture doesn’t hold DNA value like the fingernail clippings or cheek swabs Piper also took the night Hawthorne was processed.

And Hawthorne was not identified in the photo.

“It was just a picture of the lower arms with handcuffs,” Piper said.

Jurors will continue hearing evidence Thursday.

This story was originally published August 27, 2025 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Defense attorney questions law enforcement during Rock Hill cop death trial."