January 23, 2013
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IN S ID E
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Fred Meyer
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Parrish Bennette at his Thursday sentencing in the death o f 14-yearold Yashanee Vaughn. (KATU photo)
Sore Justice
Victim’s family
outraged at
sentencing
H ealth
C alendar
page 14-15
page 16
Accused of fatally shooting 14-
year-old Yashanee Vaughn and
burying her body on Rocky Butte
nearly tw o years ago, Parrish
Bennette Jr. pleaded guilty Thurs­
day to first-degree manslaughter.
The Portland teenager will go to
prison for 18 years as part of a nego­
tiated sentence between his attor­
neys, the prosecution and judge.
U nder terms of the deal, Bennette,
17, will have no chance for parole or
early release and no time off for
good behavior. After he is released
from prison, he will be required to be
under supervision for two years.
While disturbed by the plea bar­
gain, Vaughn ’ s family and relatives
were shocked and outraged to hear
a statement by one of Bennette’s
lawyers, that the defense team de­
lay ed te llin g an y o n e w here
Bennettte had dumped the body for
four months after his arrest.
The attorney, Thomas MacNair,
said it was the defense attorneys’
decision as part of conducting a
zealous defense, and not their teen­
age client.
M acN air ap o lo g ized to the
Vaughn family for the additional
Yashanee Vaughn
pain caused, but their words were
not enough.
Vaughn’s family and members of
the .community had conducted tire­
less searches for the girl after she
disappeared.
“They let her lay in the dirt and
decompose for four months and
knew where she was?” cried out
Vaughn’s great aunt Marsha Hayes
in court. “W here’s the justice for
that?” That’s sick.”
Police said Bennette fatally shot
Vaughn in the head in the bedroom
ofhis home on March 19,2011.
Bennette said little during the
sentencing, answering Judge Eric
Bergstrom’s questions if he under­
stood the plea with “yeah”.
Too overcome with emotion,
Vaughn’s mother, Shaquita Louis,
could not address her daughter’s
murderer in court, but once outside
the courthouse, fighting back tears,
she spoke.
“They just let my daughter just
sit up there and decay,” she said, “I
couldn’t give her a proper burial.”
Prosecutor Brian Davidson said
that Bennette will not get out of
prison until he is 34 in 2029.
Davidson also said that detec­
tiv es fo u n d no e v id e n ce th at
Bennette had any accomplices to
assist him in the killing and dispos­
ing of Vaughn.
He said, considering Bennette’s
age, the fact that he had no prior
convictions, and his defense that
the killing was an accident, pros­
ecutors and the judge accepted the
plea.s
Bennette cannot appeal his sen­
tence as part o f the deal. If con­
victed of murder, he would have
faced a minimum mandatory sen­
tence of 25 years.
“I hope you thank God for spar­
ing your life because my precious
niece’s life wasn’t,” said Vaughn’s
aunt Shaw ntae H ayes said to
Bennette in court.
Bennette avoided eye contact as
he sat between his two lawyers,
MacNair and Thaddeus Betz.
Hayes continued, “Because you
didn’t let us know where she was,
we couldn’ t give her that last kiss on
her cheek to lay her to rest.”