WACO, Texas — A Waco judge set a date for participating parties to provide evidence in a high profile Central Texas case.
Judge Thomas West of Waco’s 19th State District Court set Dec. 1 as the day the state has to turn in all requested evidence to electronic discovery in the Seth Sutton case. Sutton was indicted on a solicitation of capital murder charge in August 2020.
The defense filed the discovery motion to make sure all the evidence the state has will be shared with the defense.
Sutton's attorney Clint Broden says the request wasn't filled outside of court.
Some of the items sought in the motion include Sutton and Tijerina’s phone records; the officer’s reports relating to his undercover work with the motorcycle club, documentation of any internal affairs or complaints against the officer, as well as and Texas Ranger investigative reports.
Broden says he is satisfied with how the hearing went today because the State is agreeing to give everything in their possession which he says will help prove the defenses' point.
"It was pretty straight forward, I don't really know why we didn't get the discovery earlier," Broden told 6 News. "I think initially when Mr. Sutton was arrested there was a narrative put out that wasn't true and I think we're trying to get the discovery to show it wasn't true, to show what actually happened."
In a discovery motion filed last week, an undercover Waco police officer reportedly spent six months "exploiting" Waco lawyer Seth Sutton and "entrapped" him in a murder-for-hire scheme in 2020.
Sutton was indicted in August 2020, alongside the late and former Waco attorney, Chelsea Tijerina, in the alleged plot to kill Marcus Daniel Beaudin.
Beaudin reportedly tried to expose the breast of a teenage girl, as well as fondle her in May 2016. He was indicted in June on a third-degree felony and charges against him are still pending.
The girl involved is a family member of Sutton's.
Sutton befriended the undercover officer, Scott Vaughn, in December 2019 and encouraged him to join his motorcycle club in May 2020, the motion reads. The two became close and both men began to confide in one another, the motion alleges.
During this time, Sutton "began to vent" to the undercover officer, Scott Vaughn, about what Beaudin reportedly did to his family member.
"Unwisely... Seth verbalized his fantasy of killing the sexual predator [Beaudin] and then Vaughn asked if he thought about how he would do it and Seth continued to share his fantasies about how he might kill the sexual predator," the motion reads. "Although, at the time, there was absolutely no indication that this was any more than the fantasy of a devastated stepfather and husband who believed he let his family down, this did not stop Vaughn from exploiting Seth Sutton’s pain."
The motion says that Vaughn did not report to authorities, as required by law, about the alleged sexual assault of Sutton's family member, nor that Beaudin's life was in danger.
Instead, "Vaughn skillfully turned it from Seth fantasizing about personally killing the man who wrought havoc on his family to him (Vaughn) killing Beaudin. Vaughn also talked about getting a gun," the motion states.
"Vaughn devised a game plan wherein he would insert himself in the situation and then falsely claim that Seth was hiring him to kill Beaudin," the motion continues.
Days after at a bar, Vaughn "solicited" money from Sutton to buy an untraceable gun and said he would carry out the murder a month in the future.
"Vaughn then made an excuse to leave claiming that, as a single father with a daughter having a sleepover," the motion reads. Moments later, when Sutton left the bar, he was arrested.
This is a developing story that will be updated as new details become available.