SUMNER COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) – Former Vanderbilt nurse RaDonda Vaught answered to perjury charges in a Sumner County court Wednesday stemming from her attempt to buy weapons two years ago.

The charge comes after Vaught signed Form 4473 at a Gallatin gun store and declared that she was not under the indictment for any felonies at the time of purchase. However, at the time she was facing one count of reckless homicide and one count of impaired adult abuse, both felonies. 

Vaught’s lawyer, Peter Strianse, says Vaught indicating that she was not under any felonies at the time of purchase was a simple mistake made because she simply read the paperwork too fast.  

“She did it a little too quickly, and if you read that language if you’re a person charged with a criminal case you don’t know what the sentence is going to be,” he said. “So I can see how people can make that mistake. I think they are plenty of citizens who have made mistakes on a 4473 form. So it was not intentional at all.” 

A jury found Vaught guilty of the two charges in March. On the count of reckless homicide, she was found guilty on a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult after administering a fatal dose of the wrong medication to a 75-year-old Charlene Murphy. 

In Wednesday’s hearing, the state’s attorney requested that the court take the charge under advisement for a year. Strianse detailed the agreement to News 2 outside the courtroom where the hearing was held. 

“Basically, we’re going to continue the case for a whole year on her good behavior and then we’ll return to court on May 31, 2023, at which time Judge Carter will dismiss the charge, and I’ll have the opportunity to expunge it from her record,” he said.

RaDonda Vaught will return to a Sumner County court in May 2023 with hopes of getting the perjury charge dismissed from her record.