Attorney: Plea reached in 2015 homicide

PORTALES — The trial for a Portales man accused of murder will likely not be going forward later this month due to a plea agreement.

Ninth Judicial District Attorney Jake Boazman declined to say what the plea agreement is until it is officially filed in court, but he notified District Judge Donna Mowrer on Monday that a plea offer had been extended to the attorneys of David Smith.

Smith, 42, allegedly held William Vaughn, 45, hostage in Smith's home in November 2015 as he beat him. Vaughn suffered a traumatic brain injury, multiple burns and severe bruising, later dying of blunt force trauma in a Lubbock hospital.

Smith’s trial was set for May 22-26.

Smith’s attorney, Anna Aragon of Las Vegas, New Mexico, confirmed via telephone during a status conference on Monday that she had received the plea offer and that her client had signed it that morning.

Boazman told Mowrer he hoped to be filing the plea by the end of the day.

Mowrer told both attorneys she would try to set a plea conference for as early as this Friday.