'Sons of Guns' reality TV star convicted of rape charges
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.