Will Hayden, former ‘Sons of Guns’ star, found guilty in sexual assaults of 2 girls
BATON ROUGE — Former “Sons of Guns” reality TV star Will Hayden was convicted Friday of raping two girls in Louisiana. He faces a sentence of life in prison.
The Advocate reports that Hayden’s victims, a 15-year-old girl and a 37-year-old woman, cried and hugged in a Baton Rouge courtroom as the jury’s unanimous verdicts were announced.
Hayden was found guilty of two counts of aggravated rape and one count of forcible rape.
The Discovery Channel canceled the “Sons of Guns” series amid Hayden’s legal troubles.
His 15-year-old victim told jurors that Hayden repeatedly raped her over the course of a year-and-a-half, when she was 11 and 12 years old. The 37-year-old woman testified that Hayden raped her in the early 1990s, when she was 12 and 13.
Hayden, 51, denied the rape allegations when he testified Thursday at his trial.
A prosecutor, Sonya Cardia-Porter, called Hayden a “master manipulator” who lied to the jury in a “pretty-well-rehearsed” performance.
Hayden is scheduled to be sentenced in May, but his aggravated rape conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
He also faces separate rape charges in Livingston Parish and has a trial scheduled for July.
The 51-year-old Hayden’s accusers, a 15-year-old girl and a 37-year-old woman who both no longer live in Louisiana, cried and hugged inside state District Judge Mike Erwin’s courtroom as the verdicts were announced: guilty on two counts of aggravated rape and one count of forcible rape.
Hayden, of Greenwell Springs, will be sentenced May 11. Aggravated rape carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
The jury of six women and six men deliberated for an hour following four days of testimony, including emotionally charged testimony from the girl and woman.
East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III said it was only fitting that the convictions came during National Crime Victims’ Week.
“We no longer have victims in this case, we have survivors,” Moore said outside the 19th Judicial District Courthouse, from where Hayden’s accusers left without commenting on the verdicts. “This is the survivors’ day.”
Moore said he hopes the verdicts, and the courage it took for the girl and woman to come into court and face their sexual abuser, will empower others in their shoes to come forward and speak out against their abusers.
“There is a way out,” he said.
Moore said he also hopes the case sends a message to state lawmakers that life sentences are appropriate in some cases.
Hayden’s 15-year-old accuser testified Wednesday and Thursday that Hayden raped her repeatedly in 2013 and 2014 when she was 11 and 12 years old.