Jury Convicts Jennifer Deleon In Deaths Of Yachting Couple

POSTED: 3:04 pm PST November 17, 2006

LOS ANGELES -- Jennifer Deleon was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder Friday for her role in the deaths of retired couple.

Deleon, 25, was charged, along with her husband and three other men to be tried separately, in the slaying of the couple for their yacht.

The seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated for about four hours. Jurors also found true the special circumstance of murder for financial gain.

Colleen Franciso, the aunt of accused killer Skylar Deleon, was among the last few prosecution witnesses in the trial of Jennifer Deleon, of Long Beach, who was arrested after the Nov. 15, 2004 deaths of Tom and Jackie Hawks, 57 and 47 respectively.

The retired couple from Prescott, Ariz., had been living on their 55- foot motor yacht, the Well Deserved, when Skylar Deleon approached them about buying it.

Jennifer Deleon is accused of helping to gain the trust of the couple before her 26-year-old husband and two other men allegedly commandeered the yacht on a sea trial and sent the Hawkes to the bottom of the ocean tied to an anchor.

The three men, along with a fourth, are being tried separately.

Defense attorney Michael Molfetta has portrayed his client as a manipulated wife and mother. When she realized her husband had committed murder, she was "petrified" of him, Molfetta said.

Francisco testified that her nephew's real name was John Jacobson and he went by the name, "Little John," until the marriage and "Jennifer made it very clear" that he was to be known as Skylar.

Skylar Deleon was arrested on Dec. 17, 2004. Afterward, Francisco testified that she was concerned about Jennifer and wanted to console her.

"This was a pretty shocking discovery," Francisco said, referring to the allegations.

The aunt said she wanted to comfort the young woman "but she was not really overly concerned" about the arrest.

"I asked Jennifer if she was OK, and I apologized for Skylar, what he had done," Francisco testified. "She didn't appear to need that. I tried to put an arm around her. She was OK, more than I thought she would be."

Francisco testified that Skylar was the kind of person who told wild stories about assassinating people in other countries, but she said she never believed them.

When Francisco asked if Skylar Deleon was involved in the slayings, Jennifer "didn't answer. She looked me right in the eye," she testified.

"I asked her if she killed anybody," Francisco said. "She just looked at me and just smirked, with a half smile on her face."

Francisco asked Jennifer "what happened and why and she said, `We needed the money."'

After that statement, Francisco said she tried to "digest" what Jennifer Deleon had just said.

"We hugged, and said goodbye," Francisco said. "Not believing what I heard, I asked if she needed anything."

"She said, `We are going to be OK,"' the woman said.

Francisco said she repeated what Jennifer told her several times to herself in order to remember it then "became fearful."

"I was very scared," she said, believing that she had just heard that "John is a murderer. I called police and shared my fears."

During cross-examination, Molfetta asked Francisco to pinpoint when, during interviews with police on three occasions, did she tell them about the "smirk" and the "shocking statement."

"I don't know if I said it at a specific time," Francisco said. "But I can tell you this occurred."

"Jennifer did this within inches of my face," she said.

Speaking outside the courtroom, Molfetta said none of the police interviews reflected those statements.

Francisco admitted telling police she thought that Skylar Deleon was a psychopath, a thief and a burglar -- one who admitted killing people.

But, she said, she did not associate any of that activity with Jennifer.

Skylar Deleon told "a million" stories that Francisco did not with her husband, because she said her husband would have gone to police.

"These stories were so inconsistent and beyond belief I could never believe any one of them," she said.

"So what seemed unbelievable turned out to be real?" Molfetta asked. "It appears so," Francisco said.

Earlier, Newport Beach police Detective Dave Byington testified that Jennifer Deleon continued to express her love for her husband in letters while both were jailed.

Asked by Molfetta if the letters were "infantile, seemingly like puppy love?" Byington said they were.

That tone was maintained throughout, Byington said, and "none of the letters says she has nothing to do with it."

Deputy District Attorney Matthew Murphy is expected to wind up the prosecution's case later Tuesday. Molfetta will then present his case.

Trial for Skylar Deleon, 26, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 40, both of Long Beach, is scheduled for January. Prosecutors will seek their executions.

Also facing trial separately is Alonso Machain, 22, of Pico Rivera, who testified about how the Hawkses were killed. Also charged in the case is Myron Gardner Sr., 33, who allegedly recruited Kennedy, an alleged gang member, to help kill the couple.

According to Murphy, Skylar and Jennifer Deleon cleaned the boat with bleach and arranged to have the ownership papers notarized with backdates. They allegedly tried to take money out of the Hawkes' bank account in Arizona and conspired with Machain to make it look like the Hawkes had moved to Mexico.

Murphy told jurors Skylar Deleon is also charged with the Dec. 27, 2003, slaying of John Jarvi, an Anaheim man from whom he allegedly stole $55,000. The victim's throat was slit, and he was left for dead in Mexico.

Jennifer Deleon is charged as an accessory in that crime, which is being adjudicated separately.

Friday, November 17, 2006
Finally, they give us a 'smoking gun'
FRANK MICKADEIT
Register columnist
fmickadeit@ocregister.com

Lawyers gave us another 149 minutes of closing arguments in the Jennifer Deleon murder trial yesterday, and if I had to point to the most important one, it was about minute 91, when prosecutor Matt Murphy finally unveiled his "smoking gun." And it was done in such a way that defense attorney Michael Molfetta couldn't do a thing about it.

Molfetta wrapped up his closing at 11:08. We took a break and he came over, gave me some grief for calling him "beefy" and said to a friend, "Now comes the part defense attorneys hate the most." It was time for Murphy's rebuttal, an advantage given the prosecution because of its formidable burden of proof. The last argument jurors hear is from the D.A. And the defense has to sit there and take it.

Not that the prosecutor can introduce new evidence – a physical smoking gun, as it were – but he can put forth a fresh argument, one that shapes the circumstantial evidence in a damning way neither the jurors nor the defense may have considered. And Murphy had been sitting on this one all trial, waiting until Molfetta was in no position to attack it, as he so effectively does.

Remember: the key to Murphy's case is his contention that Jennifer went on Tom and Jackie Hawkses' boat on Nov. 6, 2004, to put them "at ease" about dealing with Skylar. With their baby girl in tow, Skylar and Jennifer chatted with the Hawkses for 45 minutes to an hour. If Jennifer knew Skylar was ultimately planning to kill the Hawkses, (which he allegedly did nine days later), she is an accessory to the murders and is just as guilty under the law.

Also, and significantly, if she merely thought Skylar was working a scam to steal the boat, that also amounts to murder under the state's "felony murder" rule. This states that if during the commission of a felony, a person dies – even if it's unintentional – the perpetrator of the felony is guilty of murder. So even if she was only conspiring to rip off the Hawkses' 55-foot boat, that is felony burglary and she would be guilty of murder because the Hawkses are believed to have ultimately died.

Now, to the "smoking gun." A few days before her visit to the boat, Jennifer had told a Realtor she and Skylar were being given a 55-foot boat as "gift." Molfetta contends that's what Skylar told her to keep her in the dark. At the same time, however, the Hawkses clearly thought they were going to sell the boat to the Deleons.

Even if Jennifer were naïve enough to think the Hawkses were for some reason giving Skylar a boat worth $460,000 in conjunction with some vague criminal activity down in Mexico, there is no way Skylar could risk letting Jennifer meet the Hawkses and say something to the effect of, "Thanks for giving us the boat." Or, risk having the Hawkses refer to "selling" the boat in front of a wife who thought it was a "gift." If either of those things were to happen, the gig would be up. Actually, it is impossible to conceive it would not happen. And Tom Hawks, a former probation officer, would realize he was being set up. Skylar, already on probation for burglary and on the hook for serving out a seven-year suspended sentence if he got caught perpetrating another crime, knew he would go down, big time.

There is no way he could not let Jennifer in on the plan.

"In the history of stupid conspiracies," Murphy said, "Nobody could be that dumb" as to not realize that.

And whether the plan was to murder the Hawkses for their boat, or simply rip them off, in the eyes of the law it doesn't matter. It's murder.

Obviously, a lot more was said by both sides yesterday. Murphy laid out the number of lies he says the evidence shows Jennifer told cops, family and friends. I lost count at 22 fabrications by, as Murphy mockingly called her, "our sweet, innocent child of God."

Molfetta had his A game, of course. He must spend his evenings concocting ever more vile descriptions of Skylar. My favorite yesterday was "120 pounds of hermaphrodite evilness." He'll probably think I spent too much time writing on Murphy's "smoking gun" today, but, like Molfetta, I have to pick my spots and hit them hard.

The jury finally got the case about 4 p.m. and had a half-hour to pick a foreman and start rehashing eight days of evidence.

CONTACT US: Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or at fmickadeit@ocregister.com.

Final arguments made; trial to jury
Deliberations to begin today in case of woman charged with murder of Newport couple.

By Amanda Pennington
SANTA ANA — In her first correspondence to her husband after their preliminary hearing in the slaying of Tom and Jackie Hawks, Jennifer Henderson-Deleon wrote a love letter to her imprisoned husband, which was read Thursday in the prosecution's final argument in her trial.

After listening to two weeks of emotional testimony, jurors will deliberate today to decide if Henderson-Deleon had a role in the 2004 killing of Tom and Jackie Hawks. Authorities have never found the bodies, but Alonso Machain, one of the four charged in the couple's slaying, testified last week that the Hawkses were tied to an anchor on their boat and thrown overboard alive.

Henderson-Deleon's husband, Skylar Deleon, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy have also been charged with murder. Their trials and Machain's trial are scheduled for next year.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy read excerpts of the letter to try to prove Henderson-Deleon's callousness about the trial. Henderson-Deleon's attorneys have tried to portray her as a woman scared of her husband, but the love letter contradicts that, Murphy said.

In the letter, Henderson-Deleon refers to her husband as "lovebug" and expressed how "good it was to see" him at a 2005 preliminary hearing.

"I'll surely be dreaming about you," Henderson-Deleon wrote, closing her letter.

Murphy told the jury to read the letter and many others written by the 25-year-old woman as they evaluate the evidence.

"Is this a woman whose husband duped her into killing two people or a woman who has been involved from the get-go?" Murphy asked the jury.

Michael Molfetta argued that Henderson-Deleon is a confused young woman. Molfetta characterized Henderson-Deleon as naive, blinded by love, and a "Godly woman raised to see the best" in people.

"This exploded in her face with murder," Molfetta said, adding it took her time to believe her husband could be a "murderer."

But Murphy maintained that based on Skylar Deleon's prior armed residential burglary conviction and his alleged involvement in the killing of John Jarvi of Anaheim, among other "red flags," she had to have known her husband was up to no good when he told her to go aboard the Hawkses boat with their 9-month-old daughter to help convince the couple to sell their boat to the Deleons.

"She has to be in on it or Skylar Deleon wouldn't have let her within 10 miles of Tom and Jackie Hawks," Murphy argued.

Molfetta has argued that Henderson-Deleon didn't know about her husband's role in the slaying, let alone have any part in it, but in his closing argument he said she assuredly committed crimes, only none of them were murder.

"There are a lot of things she did which are bad," Molfetta said. But he argued the jury needs to evaluate "what she knew and when she knew it."

But Murphy pointed out lies he said Henderson-Deleon told her accountants, a real estate agent, her family and detectives about the killing and where the money was coming from. He also pointed to the calls she made to Jim Hawks, Tom Hawks' brother, telling him if she or her husband heard from the couple, she would let him know.

From the initial Nov. 6, 2004, meeting with Tom and Jackie Hawks to her behavior in jail, Murphy said she has not acted as an innocent woman would. Molfetta urged the jury to look only at the evidence and not at the interpretations of the facts from prosecutors and the defense.

The Hawkses' family is glad to see the trial coming to an end and are happy with the way the prosecution laid out the case.

"I think Matt Murphy did an excellent job of presenting the case to the jury," said Ryan Hawks, the son of Tom Hawks. "I was super impressed on how good the detective work from Newport Beach Police [was]…. They did a tremendous job with the evidence."

Thursday, November 16, 2006
191 minutes of spellbinding argument
FRANK MICKADEIT

Register columnist
fmickadeit@ocregister.com

For 99 minutes yesterday, prosecutor Matt Murphy delivered a closing that had me thinking Jennifer Deleon should be executed.

Then for 92 minutes, defense attorney Michael Molfetta picked apart Murphy's case and had me wondering whether probation might be most appropriate.

Of course, she'll get neither – she'll get life for conspiring to kill Tom and Jackie Hawks or she'll walk – but that's what great oration often does to me when I'm not personally invested in the outcome. I'm most swayed by the last guy who spoke. In this case, Molfetta still isn't done talking and then Murphy gets a chance to rebut. Closings continue today.

Jennifer's entrance was, as always, unremarkable. Wearing a Prussian-blue sweater over a white blouse and navy slacks, she quickly took her seat, stared straight ahead and never moved more than a couple inches in any direction.

Murphy started with a lesson on homicide and let his argument build to a boil. With no physical evidence directly linking her to the murders, the structure was based on: "If Jennifer Deleon is innocent, what would you expect her to do (and) what would you expect her not to do?"

Murphy went through warning signs an innocent person would have picked up on: She knew her "dirtbag husband," Skylar, had used a gun during a burglary (he was willing to use force to steal); she knew they were $80,000 in debt; she knew the Hawkses' $460,000 boat was beyond their means; she knew Skylar probably killed another guy for money the year prior – she knew all this before she went on the Hawkses' boat with her baby to ease their minds about the deal. How could she not know Skylar meant the Hawkses harm?

Murphy picked out several moments when an innocent person would have balked. One was when she and Skylar met a Realtor before the Hawks murders and told her they wanted to buy a $2 million house with a 55-foot boat slip. She said the money was coming from Skylar's relatives in Mexico and the boat was a "gift." So far, that jibes with the defense that she was buying into Skylar's lies. But a short time later, they were talking to an accountant and Skylar said the money was coming to him from a drug deal.

At that point, when Skylar's story changes, "any rational human being calls a time out," Murphy said, and asks her husband to explain. Unless she knows the truth.

As Murphy worked deeper into his argument, he became more animated, more emotional. Noting that Tom Hawks, a probation officer, had allowed onto his boat Skylar, a massive Crip named John Kennedy and a third strange man, Murphy asked: "Why would (Hawks) go out to sea with those guys? The answer is sitting right there," he concluded, jabbing his index finger at Jennifer.

"Wow!" said Molfetta, praising his opponent when he and Murphy traded places, shortly after 2:30 p.m. "I'm just a ham-and-egger (compared to Murphy), nothing more," he said. That's classic Molfetta, trying to play the harried, none-too-bright underdog attorney – kind of combination of Columbo and Rocky Balboa. In fact, "ham-and-egger" is exactly how Rocky describes himself in the first film. And like Stallone, Molfetta is this beefy guy with a kind of East Coast drama-school presence that is terribly endearing. And the dude can talk like Rocky can punch.

So we get this incredible treatise on Skylar. Skylar the "master manipulator," "malignant twit" and "piece of excrement" who gets the Crip "to kill on the come," solicits the (unsuccessful) murders of his cousin and father while in jail, nearly cons another inmate out of $200,000 and gets a jailer to help him murder the Hawkses. Skylar, who "grew up in Advanced Placement Criminology," that is, a household where Dad and others were crooks. And how he (Molfetta) guarantees Skylar will "get his switch flipped" and how he (Molfetta) "will join you all (jurors) and sit out there and watch him end."

Jennifer, though, is the churchgoing "schoolmarm" who falls prey to Skylar's double life, which Molfetta compares to Scott Peterson's. How could she go from "a child of God to a sister of Satan?" he asks. Isn't it more likely that she was duped? Wow, indeed.

CONTACT US: Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com.

Execution? This case is testing his faith
November 16, 2006

For those of us opposed to the death penalty, it's best not to contemplate the alleged murders of Thomas and Jackie Hawks. If you do, the prevailing thought may be not to plead for their accused killers' lives, but to think up exotic tortures for them.

As for me, let's just say I won't be taking part in any candlelight vigils if the alleged killers are sentenced to death.

In the media age, we've all been exposed to more murder tales than we care to remember. It's impossible to absorb them all and not have the overall effect be to desensitize you a bit.

Then a case like the Hawkses' comes along. I wasn't in court the day last week when one of the five alleged conspirators testified about the couple's last terrifying minutes of life aboard their yacht in November 2004. And after reading colleague Christine Hanley's report, I'm glad I wasn't.

I've read umpteen hundred murder stories and heard others in courtrooms, but there was something about Hanley's unadorned reportage of this particular minute-by-minute testimony that won't be soon forgotten. The testimony came during the trial of the wife of one of the alleged killers and was given by one of those on the boat who acknowledged he was testifying in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence.

If he is to be believed, the Hawkses lived out the kind of nightmare we reserve for our rarest of morbid moments: that we have suddenly found ourselves, totally unexpectedly, in the clutches of killers.

It must have been especially unexpected for the Hawkses, who thought they were taking prospective buyers for a spin out of Newport Harbor on a bright and sunny day. Instead, according to the witness' account, they found themselves at sea and overpowered, bound with duct tape, sometimes with the tape over their eyes, then separated temporarily as each was forced to sign over and apply their fingerprints to legal documents that the killers hoped would let them loot the couple's accounts.

Eventually, in what we must assume was full panic, the Hawkses were brought topside.

There, the witness testified, they were tied together — Jackie's back against her husband's chest — with their hands cuffed behind them. Tom tried to console Jackie in whatever limited way he could. Then, one of the accused killers allegedly attached the couple to the anchor, prompting Tom to send him reeling backward with a powerful kick and last act of defiance. The accused killer allegedly tossed the anchor overboard as another man simultaneously pushed the Hawkses into the ocean after it.

The witness left little doubt that the Hawkses knew for some time what their fate was to be. The alleged killers didn't even have the minimal decency to knock them out before pushing them overboard. Accordingly, the witness testified, Jackie was "shaking uncontrollably" at times. Near the end, he testified, Tom was trying to hold his wife's hand as they were bound together.

As described, it's as cruel a crime as you can imagine.

For the record, no one has been convicted in the killings. The case against the woman is expected to go to the jury today. The other four defendants face trials in the months ahead. Prosecutors are asking for the death penalty only against the two men who allegedly sent the couple over the side with the anchor.

I've written many times about my opposition to capital punishment. Those values remain in place, but while contemplating possible death sentences for this alleged crime, I find myself thinking less today of those high-minded reasons and more of the name of the Hawkses' yacht:

Well Deserved.

Dana Parsons' column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821 or at dana.parsons@latimes.com. An archive of his recent columns is at http://www.latimes.com/parsons .

Woman's murder trial nears close
Jury may begin deliberations today in case of woman accused of helping to kill local couple.

By Amanda Pennington
Two days after Tom and Jackie Hawks were allegedly tied to an anchor and thrown from their boat into the ocean to drown, Jennifer Henderson-Deleon bundled up Jackie Hawks' clothes, kept a bag for herself, sent some to Goodwill and trashed the rest, according to closing arguments in her murder trial.

Did that mean Henderson-Deleon is insensitive or good-natured?

Defense attorney Michael Molfetta told jurors in his closing argument that donating the clothes to Goodwill showed how generous she is, but prosecutor Matt Murphy said it displayed a callousness.

Murphy refuted arguments made by the defense that she was a naive, demure young mother who had no knowledge of her husband's alleged plan to kill the Hawkses in 2004.

Henderson-Deleon, her husband Skylar Deleon, Alonso Machain and John Fitzgerald Kennedy have been charged with slaying the couple. The Hawkses were killed after being forced to sign power-of-attorney documents over to Skylar Deleon, according to prosecutors and Machain's testimony.

Henderson-Deleon's main role in the alleged slaying, according to prosecutors, was helping to gain the couple's trust as they attempted to sell their boat, Well Deserved, and move to Arizona to be near a new grandchild. Days before the killing was said to have been committed, Henderson-Deleon visited the Hawkses with her husband on Well Deserved after Deleon instructed her to bring their 9-month-old daughter and "put them at ease," Murphy said.

"From that point on, she might as well have pushed them off the boat herself," Murphy argued.

Even if Henderson-Deleon did not know the exact plans the "co-conspirators" had for the Hawkses, Murphy said, she aided and abetted their killing by knowingly helping her husband commit the crime, whether she thought it was just burglary or murder. He described some of Deleon's past offenses, which he said should have been major red flags for Henderson-Deleon.

"She's married to a guy who's willing to use deadly force to steal," Murphy told the jury as a packed courtroom of observers watched.

She knew of his past and still chose to stay with him and have two children with Deleon, he continued. Even when he changed the story of how he was getting the money and boat, Henderson-Deleon "never called a timeout," Murphy said.

Defense attorney Molfetta, who will continue his closing argument this morning, on Wednesday described Henderson-Deleon as a victim of her husband's manipulation.

"This case boils down to one thing," Molfetta argued. "Skylar has his name all over it."

He referred to Deleon as "it" and "excrement," while describing Henderson-Deleon as a churchgoer whose only wish was to raise a family.

Was it plausible that Henderson-Deleon went "from school marm to a double murderer; sweet to very, very not sweet; from child of God to sister of Satan — like this?" Molfetta asked as he snapped his fingers.

Molfetta called it a "quantum leap."

A major point of Murphy's argument was that the Deleons were more than $80,000 in debt when the two of them met with the Hawkses on their 55-foot yacht to discuss possibly purchasing it.

Murphy pointed out that about two weeks before the Hawkses were killed, Henderson-Deleon was already speaking with a real estate agent with her husband about purchasing a waterfront home with a boat slip.

Molfetta countered by pointing out the prosecution has no direct evidence Henderson-Deleon was involved.

He maintained that Deleon kept the plan secret, but acknowledged Henderson-Deleon turned a blind eye to where the money and boat were coming from, something he said husbands and wives do all the time.

Closing arguments continue today. Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel told the jury he expects they will begin deliberating today.

Woman accused of murdering couple fails to take the stand
Friends testify that Jennifer L. Deleon was a nurturing wife and mother. Prosecutors contend she helped her husband plan the murder of a couple on their yacht.

By Christine Hanley, Times Staff Writer
November 15, 2006

Friends testifying Tuesday on behalf of a woman accused of helping murder yacht owners Thomas and Jackie Hawks described her as nurturing wife and mother who could be a bit naive, too trusting, and unlikely to show her emotions.

Jennifer L. Deleon did not take the stand to defend herself against accusations that she helped her husband, Skylar, and three other men in a plot to murder the Hawkses, steal their yacht and plunder their savings. Her lawyer rested his case after calling four witnesses: two friends, a friend of her parents' and a tax accountant.

Deleon, a 25-year-old mother of two, is being tried on two counts of murder and the special-circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain. If convicted, she could face life in prison without parole. Skylar Deleon, 27, the alleged mastermind, goes on trial in January.

Prosecutors acknowledge that Jennifer Deleon was not on board the yacht Well-Deserved in November 2004 when her husband and two accomplices allegedly forced the Hawkses to sign transfer-of-title and power-of-attorney documents, handcuffed them to an anchor and tossed them into the sea off the coast of Newport Beach.

During more than five days of testimony, Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy called a series of witnesses, played taped interviews and presented other evidence in an attempt to portray Deleon as a coldhearted woman who used her 9-month-old child to gain the Hawkses' trust, helped destroy evidence and then lied to investigators.

Deleon's attorney, Michael Molfetta, has maintained that his client didn't know what her husband was planning until after the couple were killed, then followed his lead only because she was afraid of what he might do to her if she didn't. Throughout the trial, he has sought to raise reasonable doubt about her prior knowledge of the alleged plot.

On Tuesday, witnesses who tried to paint a kinder portrait of Jennifer Deleon included a friend since high school, Erin Dworzan. She described Deleon as a hard-working hairstylist who was "not a violent person at all."

Under cross examination, Dworzan added that Deleon was smart, "a little naive at times" in her relationships with men, tending to trust what they would say, "even when they were playing her."

Meghan Leathem, who met Deleon through a roommate and later moved into a condominium next door to the Long Beach home where the Deleons lived with Jennifer's parents, said she was a "very sweet, loving" caregiver who supported and nurtured her husband, and "hides a lot of her feelings on the inside."

Leathem also testified about a jail visit with Deleon within the past two months during which Deleon apologized for bringing Skylar into her life, calling him a psycho, a freak, and warning her to get a background check on her boyfriend. Deleon also told her she feared for what he could do to her and her family, Leathem said.

Under cross examination, however, Murphy got Leathem to acknowledge that not once in the four months between the time Skylar and Jennifer were arrested — when the two women still lived next door to each other — did Jennifer ever mention being afraid of her husband.

After the defense rested, the prosecutor played a tape of another jailhouse conversation, this one between Jennifer and a cousin who visited her in June, during which she refers to her father with an obscenity for refusing to let her kids visit Skylar in jail.

"And he likes to control," she adds, referring to her father. "And it makes you wonder why I, you know, married somebody that doesn't make any decisions … that doesn't act like he cares, at least that I know of, you know? Somebody that's so passive, 'cause it's like, I finally get a say."

Closing statements are set for today.

Suspect portrayed as loving, naive
Defense, prosecution rest cases in trial of woman charged with killing a Newport Beach couple.

By Amanda Pennington
Jennifer Henderson Deleon with attorney Michael Molfetta in 2005.
A woman on trial for participating in the killing of Tom and Jackie Hawks was really a caring, loving and sometimes naive mother, not the one calling the shots in the family as the prosecution has contended, her friends testified Tuesday as both sides rested their cases.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy and defense attorney Michael Molfetta will offer closing arguments Wednesday in the trial of Jennifer Henderson-Deleon. Henderson-Deleon's husband, Skylar Deleon, Alonso Machain and John Fitzgerald Kennedy have also been charged with killing the couple, but their trials are scheduled for next year.

Former roommate Erin Dworzan testified that Henderson-Deleon is not an emotional person.

Dworzan and a more recent neighbor and friend, Meghan Leathem, both testified about the Deleons' courtship. Dworzan said after the two met online, Deleon began romancing Henderson-Deleon, often bringing her flowers and taking her out to dinner. But Dworzan said red-flags went up in her mind because some of Deleon's stories "didn't match up here and there."

The relationship cooled off, she said, until Deleon said he was in an intensive care unit after he was involved in a motorcycle accident. From there, Dworzan testified, the romance heated up again.

Leathem testified that during her only visit to the prison inmate a month ago, Henderson-Deleon said she was scared for her life and the lives of her family members. On cross examination, Deputy Dist. Atty. Murphy tried to demonstrate how "convenient" the admission was coming one month before she was to stand trial. Fighting back tears during her testimony, Leathem said in the four months after Deleon's arrest, before Henderson-Deleon's arrest, she never made mention of being scared of her husband.

Henderson-Deleon's tax preparer, who the couple visited after the Hawkses' slaying, also testified for the defense. Jo Ann Zahn testified that Deleon admitted the money was obtained through illegal means. Zahn said it was money from a "payback" for a crime he committed for someone else and served time for.

Zahn testified that Henderson-Deleon wanted to make sure the couple properly reported the money for tax purposes and was more interested in "what's best" for her family.

Colleen Francisco, the aunt of Skylar Deleon, testified for the prosecution that she overheard Henderson-Deleon speaking with her parents about money that was stolen from a Newport Beach couple.

Pretending to be potential buyers of the Hawkses' boat, Deleon, Machain and Kennedy overpowered the couple aboard the boat, Well Deserved, then tied Tom and Jackie Hawks to an anchor and threw them overboard while they were alive, Machain testified last week. The couple was forced to sign a power-of-attorney document for Deleon, Machain testified.

Newport Beach Police Sgt. Evan Sailor took the stand to back up Francisco's testimony before prosecutors rested their case.

Defense attorneys did not have Henderson-Deleon or her mother, Lana Henderson, testify.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin this morning, and Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel told the jury he expects they will start deliberating by Thursday.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Testimony closes on a weird note
FRANK MICKADEIT
Register columnist
fmickadeit@ocregister.com

The prosecution rested and the defense opened and rested yesterday, as the testimony phase of Jennifer Deleon's murder trial came to a surprisingly abrupt end. Closing arguments begin this morning. The jury probably gets the case tomorrow.

Defense attorney Michael Molfetta did not put his client on the stand. Maybe someday he'll tell me why, although I presume it is because he figures prosecutor Matt Murphy would have torn her apart and that he (Molfetta) thinks he can throw up enough reasonable doubt to counter a case built on circumstantial evidence. As Molfetta asked Newport Det. Dave Byington during cross examination yesterday: Of the "tens of thousands" of words police examined in letters and taped conversations between Skylar and Jennifer, isn't it true "not one of them indicates" she knew Skylar was planning to kill the Hawkses? And Byington had to agree.

Indeed, there is no smoking gun per se – no piece of evidence or testimony that links Jennifer directly to plotting the alleged Nov. 15, 2004, murders of Tom and Jackie Hawks. But Murphy had 34 witnesses and more than 80 exhibits, and he'll have a compelling closing argument that will challenge jurors to ask themselves: "How could Jennifer not have known?" And when you sit in court day after day, that question is foremost in your mind.

Each side had a particularly good witness yesterday. For the prosecution, it was Colleen Francisco, Skylar's paternal aunt. A well-spoken middle-aged woman, she testified that two days after Skylar was arrested in December of 2004, she asked Jennifer point blank: Did Skylar kill anyone? Jennifer didn't answer – "She just looked me in the eye." Then Francisco asked Jennifer if she had killed anyone. Said Francisco: "She just smirked, with a half-smile on her face" and told her, " 'We needed the money.' " As she recounted this, Francisco stared right at Jennifer, seated at the defense table about 10 feet away. Whether Jennifer returned her gaze, I couldn't tell.

This clearly infuriated Molfetta, though. The first question out of his mouth on cross was, "Why do you keep looking at my client?" Francisco said something about her continuing disbelief at Jennifer's calm demeanor. Molfetta then established that nowhere on the tape of her initial discussion with police did Francisco mention the "smirk" or the alleged money motive. (Murphy later put Det. Evan Sailor on the stand, who said Francisco did make the money statement early on. But he apparently wasn't tape recording at that point.) Molfetta also established that contrary to the cool demeanor Francisco described, she later witnessed Jennifer becoming shaken the more they talked about Skylar's arrest and the murders. Molfetta's intent: To counter the notion Jennifer is a cold, calculating bitch.

Molfetta put on just four witnesses. Their testimony totaled a little more than an hour. Much of it came from Meghan Leathen, a next-door neighbor of the Deleons and self-described close friend. For pure weirdness, her most shocking admission was that she let Skylar try on her dresses. He told her the only way he could get the sex change he wanted was if he could convince doctors he was prepared to become a woman. He told her he already had a uterus but that it had suddenly started growing out of control.

Look, I just report this stuff.

(Molfetta, by the way, raised the sex-change yesterday as a motive for Skylar wanting to kill the Hawkses and steal their money and boat. In addition to the thousands the Deleons owed creditors, Skylar had also put down $500 toward a sex-change operation he'd scheduled for two weeks after the murders. He needed $15,000 more.)

From a defense standpoint, Leathen's most important testimony was her belief that Skylar dominated the marital relationship – and that four or six weeks ago, in a jailhouse visit, Jennifer told her she considered Skylar a "psycho" and a "freak" and feared him.

Murphy pounced on this on cross, however, noting that it wasn't until recently Jennifer had told her this, and implying it was merely part of her defense strategy. In the months immediately following the murders, Leathen conceded, Jennifer never expressed any fear of her husband.

CONTACT US: Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Tapes reveal a cool woman under stress
FRANK MICKADEIT
Register columnist
fmickadeit@ocregister.com

We heard more from the mouth of Jennifer Deleon yesterday via tape recordings by detectives. While taken in isolation, one could write off any single moment of her spectacular lying, careless laughter and lack of interest in Tom and Jackie Hawks' plight as an aberration, the sheer number of such episodes makes it harder to accept the defense's big-picture argument.

That argument: Jennifer only learned of the murders when Skylar told her within a day or two of Nov. 15, 2004 – the day the Hawkses are alleged to have been killed at sea by Skylar and two accomplices. She had no role in planning the murders and only helped in the cover up because she feared Skylar would kill her.

Regardless of when she decided to help her husband, it is clear from the tapes she is one cool mama.

Consider how she behaved Dec. 17, 2004. On that day, detectives secured an arrest warrant for Skylar and a search warrant for the Long Beach home the Deleons and their 1-year-old shared with Jennifer's parents. The audio tape captures detectives handcuffing her husband and putting him in a police car, preparing to search her home, and revealing to her they have found out that she's known all along of the whereabouts of the Hawkses' stolen SUV.

For someone whose world is collapsing, Jennifer sounds remarkably unruffled. She makes sure Skylar has his diapers to take to jail, asks about getting documentation she needs to take possession of the Hawkses' boat, wonders whether she's going to be able to make a meeting she has scheduled for that evening and, finally, tells the detective that while she knows that he now knows she hasn't been truthful, she is not ready to talk about it.

"It's not going to happen right now," she tells him.

Through this whole ordeal, prosecutor Matt Murphy asked Det. Evan Sailor, "Did she ever shed a single tear?"

"No," Sailor said.

More interesting points from yesterday:

If Jennifer was afraid of Skylar, there were instances when she was alone with a detective and easily could have come clean and been placed under protection.

From the moment he first talked to Jennifer, Tom Hawks' brother suspected Jennifer was lying. The two talked twice by phone in the early days of the Hawkses' disappearance. A former Carlsbad police chief and 31-year-cop, Jim Hawks testified that "she seemed to speak rapidly, her voice was a little shaky and she hesitated to answer simple questions." One of the questions she balked on was, "What is your name?"

"I had a terrible feeling that (Jennifer) was lying to me or withholding information," he said.

We also learned that in the month between the murders and Skylar's arrest, Newport detectives played the Deleons even as the Deleons were playing them. Detectives realized how badly the cash-poor Deleons – keeping up the charade that they'd bought the "Well Deserved" legitimately – wanted the boat released to them. While the cops had no intention of doing that, they kept stringing the couple along, saying the release was imminent so the Deleons would continue to talk to them.

The prosecution should rest its case this morning and Mike Molfetta is expected to start his defense midday. Yesterday, he wouldn't answer the big question: Will Jennifer take the stand?

As my bad luck would have it, my other big Newport-based case also could take a major turn today. The City Council will consider how to deal with the beach encroachments along the Peninsula.

The encroachers have asked the city to let them lease 15-foot easements that extend oceanward from their property lines. This would mirror the lease program in West Newport. It would take care of most of the 63 Peninsula encroachments, but not all. Several go out 30 feet or more.

The Coastal Commission would still have to approve it, and it will demand some satisfaction. City staff says this might include requiring the city to build public bathrooms out by the Wedge or – and this will drive the encroachers nuts – extend the boardwalk out to the Wedge on the east and the Santa Ana River on the west.
Erika Torres contributed. Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com.

Detective takes stand in yacht murder trial
Says items belonging to the slain couple were found in the defendant's house.

By Alicia Robinson
November 14th, 2006
A Newport Beach police detective testified Monday that a woman accused in the 2004 killing of a Newport Beach couple told investigators they'd find nothing incriminating in her house, but their search turned up a computer, video camera and other items belonging to the couple.

Prosecutors continued to build their case against Jennifer Henderson-Deleon, one of four people charged in the murder of Tom and Jackie Hawks. The others — Skylar Deleon, Jennifer's husband; John Fitzgerald Kennedy; and Alonso Machain — will be tried next year.

Machain testified last week that he, Kennedy and Skylar Deleon had come with the Hawkses onto their yacht under the pretense of buying it. When they were at sea, the men overpowered the couple, tied them to an anchor and threw it overboard, planning to steal their money, Machain said.

Michael Molfetta, Henderson-Deleon's attorney, has said his client knew nothing about the plot to kill the Hawkses.

In court Monday, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Evan Sailor told prosecutors after police arrested Skylar Deleon on Dec. 17, 2004, Jennifer Henderson-Deleon was concerned about completing the sale of the yacht. She told police they wouldn't find anything in the home the Deleons shared with Jennifer's parents, but a subsequent search uncovered voter registration cards for the Hawkses, a digital camera and tapes of their boat trips, and Jackie Hawks' laptop computer, Sailor said.

James Hawks, Tom Hawks' brother, also testified, saying Jennifer Deleon sounded nervous during a phone call she made to him. James Hawks, who has worked in law enforcement, said he visited the boat after the couple disappeared and left his card, asking anyone who knew where they were to call him. Henderson-Deleon called Nov. 24.

"She was speaking rapidly, sounded a little nervous, seemed somewhat hesitant in response to simple questions," James Hawks said.

"I had a terrible feeling that either Jennifer Deleon was lying to me or withholding information…. As much as I wanted to believe her, I feared that it didn't bode well for the fate of my brother and sister."

Prosecutors also played a tape of a more than hour-long phone interview on Feb. 22, 2005, between Newport Beach Police Investigator Keith Krallman and Henderson-Deleon.

Henderson-Deleon told Krallman she wanted to do the right thing but was afraid because she'd been threatened. She also said she had nothing to do with the Hawkses' disappearance.

In cross-examination, Molfetta continued to point out different explanations for Henderson-Deleon's behavior. He asked Sailor if his client could have truly not known about the Hawkses' belongings being in her house before the police searched, and Sailor agreed it was possible.

Molfetta also asked if there was any reason to disbelieve Machain when he testified that, although he talked numerous times to Skylar Deleon before the Hawkses disappeared, he never talked to Jennifer. Sailor said no.

Prosecutors said they expect to wrap up their arguments today, and the case could be completed next week. It's unclear whether Molfetta will have his client testify.

Son finds murder testimony gruesome

By Alex Roth
STAFF WRITER

November 13, 2006

It's been a brutal two years for Ryan Hawks.

His father and stepmother vanished in November 2004. Authorities believe they were bound together, fastened to an anchor and tossed over the side of their yacht while still alive.

The murder trial for the first of five people charged in the deaths began last week in Orange County. Hawks sits in the courtroom every day, but he must do so in a wheelchair and a neck brace.

Two weeks ago, Hawks, who recently left his job as a Pacific Beach medical-supply salesman so he could tend to his dead parents' affairs, was involved in a motorbike accident in the Imperial County desert. He broke both legs, suffered whiplash and spent several days in a hospital so doctors could insert titanium rods in his thighs.

Every morning, four days a week, Hawks and his relatives drive from North County to Orange County, where they listen to testimony so nightmarish Hawks sometimes can't help but cry, even though he promised himself he wouldn't.

An ex-con's wife named Jennifer Deleon is the defendant in the trial. She is accused of plotting with her husband and several other people to kill Thomas and Jackie Hawks in an attempt to steal their yacht and plunder their bank account.

On Wednesday, Ryan Hawks heard the most harrowing testimony yet. An alleged accomplice of the Deleons testified that Jackie Hawks begged for her life as she was bound with duct tape and tied to an anchor. Thomas Hawks remained calm and tried to stroke his wife's hand. But when he realized they were going to be thrown overboard, he fought back in vain, the witness said.

“It was so detailed and so descriptive,” Ryan Hawks, 30, said, eating lunch in a small Santa Ana deli across the street from the courthouse. “You had these visuals uncontrollably running through your head, as though you're on the boat and you're watching it but you're helpless.”

He had vowed not to cry, he said, because he didn't want to show even a hint of weakness to the people accused of killing his parents. But then he heard his relatives sobbing in the seats directly behind him.

“That's when it was really hard for me to keep my emotions under control,” he said.

For two years, the Hawks case has riveted Orange County, in part because the victims were, by all appearances, such likable people, a retired couple with boundless energy and countless friends, a couple whose only mistake, authorities say, was deciding to sell their 55-foot yacht.

Thomas Hawks, 57, was a retired Arizona probation officer and former Carlsbad firefighter whose brother is the former Carlsbad chief of police. Jackie, 47, was his second wife.

It was when the Hawkses decided to sell their boat that they met Skylar Deleon, a Long Beach man who claimed to be interested in buying it. What the Hawkses couldn't possibly have known was that Deleon was a convicted criminal who authorities now believe had committed at least one previous murder.

Authorities say the Hawkses were killed Nov. 15, 2004, while taking Skylar Deleon and two of his associates on a test cruise of the yacht off the coast of Newport Beach. Before the couple were thrown overboard, Deleon forced them to sign documents giving him power of attorney over their finances, authorities say.

Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence against Jennifer Deleon, who they say helped her husband orchestrate the killings, and the death penalty against her husband and one of his alleged accomplices, John Kennedy, both of whom face trial early next year.

Another accomplice, Alonso Machain, is the witness for the prosecution whose testimony horrified the courtroom Wednesday but also provided some comfort to Ryan Hawks. Machain, who was on the boat, testified that Thomas Hawks did his best to soothe his panicked wife but also managed to put up a fight, kicking Skylar Deleon in the groin before he was overpowered and thrown into the sea.

“It made me proud,” the younger Hawks said. “It's what a well-respected, confident, strong man would do.”

On this particular afternoon, Hawks was joined for lunch by his mother, Dixie Hawks, a retired Cardiff court reporter who was Thomas Hawks' first wife.

“Tom was brave and quiet and calm,” she said about the testimony detailing her ex-husband's final moments.

Among the poignant details revealed in Machain's testimony is that the couple went overboard while bound tightly against each other, with Jackie's back pressed against her husband's chest as they sank to the bottom of the ocean in the dark of night. Their bodies have never been found.

During the trial, Ryan Hawks usually sits in the front row of the gallery, in his wheelchair. His motorbike crash in the Glamis desert left him with injuries that might take a year or so to heal. He crashed after speeding over a sand dune without realizing there was a 25-foot drop on the other side.

“This is an inconvenience and a minor obstacle,” he said about his physical maladies.

Given what's happened in his life, he added, “I'll take a broken leg any day of the week.”

Monday, November 13, 2006

Deleons talked on day of deaths

FRANK MICKADEIT Register columnist
fmickadeit@ocregister.com

Jennifer Deleon may or may not take the stand in her murder trial, but regardless, her voice was heard in court last week.

I was back in the newsroom writing, but Erika was in the courtroom when prosecutor Matt Murphy played the tape of an interview of Jennifer conducted by Newport police Det. Evan Sailor shortly after Tom and Jackie Hawks went missing.

By this time, the defense's argument goes, Skylar Deleon had told Jennifer he'd killed the Hawks, which had come as a total surprise to her. Fearing her husband, she was now participating in the cover up, the defense says.

But far from belonging to a woman timid and fearful of her husband, Erika reports, the voice on the tape is cheery and upbeat as Jennifer answers Sailor's questions outside the presence of her husband. At five points, she is heard laughing. It's not so much what she said, the prosecution will argue (that she was lying to Sailor is not disputed), it's more how she said it.

Mike Molfetta , Jennifer's defense attorney, said that with her baby next to her, it wouldn't have been unusual for Jennifer to be upbeat and playful, even if inside she feared for her life.

Another Newport detective, David White , brought out detailed diagrams of cell phone records. They show nine calls between Skylar's phone and Jennifer's phone on the morning of Nov. 6, 2004, the day Skylar allegedly went down to Newport to kill the Hawks but backed off when he saw Tom Hawks was too big to take alone. They show 13 calls between them on Nov. 15, the day the Hawks are believed to have been murdered. In virtually every case, Jennifer was in Long Beach and Skylar was in Newport or en route. Furthermore, computer and phone records from the day before the murder, White said, show the Deleons were talking by cell phone at virtually the same moment someone using the Deleons' P.C. was downloading the power-of-attorney form the Hawks were forced to sign before they were killed.

Molfetta argues the Deleons talked a lot on the cell phone anyway and that no records can show what they talked about on Nov. 6, 14 and 15. There's nothing inconsistent with the theory that Jennifer might have been in on a boat sale or even a swindle, but didn't know about the plot beforehand.

We also learned from then-notary public Kathleen Harris that she received $2,000 and the promise of more money for falsely notarizing documents related to the sale of the yacht. Nov. 22, 2004, a week after the Hawks disappeared, she got a call from Jennifer, whom she'd never met, asking her to come to the Long Beach hotel where the Deleons were staying. Upon arrival, Harris testified, she put her seal on the four documents Skylar and two accomplices allegedly forced the Hawks to sign.

Harris testified that at the time she doctored the documents, she thought the Deleons were the Hawks and she was only participating in some kind of insurance scam. She lied to detectives about her role until she found out the Hawks had been murdered, at which point she rolled over on the Deleons.

From the prosecution's standpoint, the import of her testimony is that it was Jennifer who called her and, as Harris testified, Jennifer who told her to backdate the documents to a specific date – Nov. 15. She also said that when the mutual friend who had connected her with the Deleons eventually told her about the murders, he said she should be scared of "these people" – meaning both of the Deleons.

Under cross examination, however, Molfetta got Harris to admit that in her initial interviews with cops, she hadn't said it was Jennifer who specifically told her how to backdate the document and she hadn't used the term "these people" to describe whom she feared. At the time, she only referred to Skylar.

This is the pattern the trial will follow during the prosecution phase – Murphy introducing detailed evidence pointing to Jennifer's involvement in the plot, and Molfetta conceding to serious after-the-fact participation but consistently trying to introduce reasonable doubt as to her prior knowledge of the deaths.

Erika Torres contributed. Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com.

Testimony: Woman knew of plot to kill local couple
Wife of accused killer was present when others tried to profit from killing, notary public testifies.

By Amanda Pennington
November 10th, 2006
A woman accused of participating in the slaying of a Newport Beach couple two years ago couldn't have been ignorant of the crime because she was present when the other alleged killers worked to profit from it, prosecutors sought to prove through testimony in the woman's murder trial on Thursday.

Kathleen Harris, who was working as a notary public two years ago, testified Thursday that Skylar Deleon, one of the accused killers, threatened to kill her and her family. The testimony came in the trial of Deleon's wife, Jennifer Henderson-Deleon, as prosecutors sought to rebut her defense that she was ignorant of the plot to kill Tom and Jackie Hawks. Skylar Deleon, John Fitzpatrick Kennedy and Alonso Machain are also charged in connection with the murder, but their trials will be held separately sometime next year.

Harris testified that Deleon paid her $2,000 to notarize a power-of-attorney form after Harris' friend, Adam Rohrig, asked her to do so. Tom and Jackie Hawks were forced to sign the document before they were thrown overboard, tied to an anchor, Machain testified on Wednesday.

Harris testified she met Skylar Deleon and Jennifer Henderson-Deleon in a hotel room where Henderson-Deleon told her they were staying because faulty electrical wiring sparked a fire in a fish tank at their home.

When she was leaving, Henderson-Deleon told her, "When this all goes through, we will compensate you more," Harris testified.

Henderson-Deleon's defense attorney maintained that she had no knowledge of her husband's plan and could have been talking about insurance papers and the boat sale.

When Harris prodded Rohrig about why the Deleons needed the papers backdated and stamped, she testified that he told her, "You don't want to mess with these people."

The warning further frightened Harris when police told her days after about the Hawkses' disappearance. But when Rohrig asked her to notarize another document for the Deleons, she did so because she feared for her life, she said. The second document was a bill of sale for the boat, which lacked any signatures, something she knew would catch the attention of any bank.

"She could've done the right thing earlier, and she could've got the investigation going," Ryan Hawks, the son of Tom Hawks, said after Thursday's hearing.

Harris decided to "come clean" after she and her family hired a lawyer, she said.

Luann Kenney, a bank manager in Prescott, Ariz., testified that Skylar Deleon phoned her to access the Hawkses' bank account. But she said she was suspicious because right before Deleon called her, the Hawkses' family had contacted her saying they were worried because they had not heard from the couple in a while.

She asked Deleon if she could call the Hawkses back but he said the payphone they were using in Mexico wouldn't take incoming calls, Kenney testified. Kenney said she was familiar with the area, so she directed them to another phone that would take incoming calls. Deleon said he would try to do that, but Kenney said she never heard from him again.

Newport Beach Police Det. Dave White also testified Thursday. He said he analyzed the Deleons' cellphone records before, during and after the day of the Hawkses' disappearance and found that the Deleons had been in almost constant contact on the days leading up to Nov. 15, making more than 10 short calls to each other.

The trial will resume Monday after taking a break Friday, Veterans Day.

Remarks: District Attorney Tony Rackauckas
Press Conference: 09/06/06

Re: Seeking the Death Penalty against Skylar Deleon and John Kennedy
Thank you for coming. I have here with me Sgt. Dave Byington representing the
Newport Beach Police Department. They are continuing to do an excellent job
investigating the case. Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy will be trying
all three cases including the other Deleon cases involving the solicitation for
murder and the murder of John Jarvi.

Since I became the District Attorney of Orange County, I have sought the
punishment of death in 33 cases. Of those cases, Orange County juries
recommended that 13 of them receive the ultimate penalty of death. Nine of the
22 received life without the possibility of parole. 11 are pending jury trials.

Before the death penalty is considered for any defendant, I convene a “Special
Circumstances Committee” that includes Chief Assistant Chuck Middleton and at
least three prosecutors with considerable death penalty case experience.

At the hearing, the assigned deputy district attorney presents the facts of the
case. The factors considered are: the strengths of the evidence, the
seriousness of the crime, the damage to the community, and whether justice will
be served by seeking the death penalty as to the defendant.

We give the defense an opportunity to present any mitigating evidence. The
aggravating factors must clearly outweigh any mitigating factors. We discuss this
in the Committee and the Committee makes a recommendation. I then
personally make the final decision.

The decision to seek the death penalty is the most serious responsibility I
have as the District Attorney. There are some murders, however, that are
committed with such a malignant heart, such callousness, that the only just
penalty is death.

Three recent examples include:

Alejandro Avila who kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered little
Samantha Runnion;
Maurice Steskal who ambushed and murdered a deputy sheriff with an assault
rifle at a Lake Forest 7-11;
and Dung Trinh who armed himself with two handguns and 90 bullets at an
Anaheim hospital and opened fire and murdered an administrator, a nursing
assistant, and a pharmacist, and attempted the murder of another.

This case involves the 2004 murder of Jackie and Thomas Hawks in Newport
Beach. The defendants in this case are Skylar Deleon, his wife Jennifer Deleon,
Alonso Machain, Myron Gardner Sr., and John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Jackie and Thomas Hawks were good people. They were loved. They were
parents, grandparents, brother, sister, and someone’s child. They loved their life.
The fact that their life was unexpectedly extinguished was evident in the boat -- a
row of half used hot sauce bottles and marks on the page in the books they put
down.

I am seeking the death penalty for Skylar Deleon and John Kennedy for the 2004
double murder of Jackie and Thomas Hawks. This was a clear case. The trial is
scheduled to begin on January 29, 2007.

The Committee found that Skylar Deleon is charged with multiple murders and
murder for financial gain of the Hawks.

*He is also charged with murdering John Jarvi for financial gain before murdering
the Hawks.

*He has a prior 2003 Strike conviction for committing a residential burglary armed
with a firearm, duct tape, and handcuffs.

*In the Hawks case, we found particularly aggravating the cruel and cold blooded
way two innocent people were murdered.

*Deleon is accused of planning their murder for days, coordinating with his wife
and using their infant child to gain the Hawks’ trust, and hiring “muscle” to murder
this couple.

*We also found the Hawks were murdered in the most cold blooded way -- tied
together to an anchor, thrown into the deep, frigid ocean, the pressure rapidly
filling their lungs. This couple literally watched their dreams float away as they
were drowning to death.

*We also considered that after Deleon was charged with the Hawks and the Jarvi
murders, he was charged with soliciting the murder of his own father and a
cousin, both witnesses.

Based on those findings, I have decided to pursue the death penalty on
Skylar Deleon.

The Committee found Kennedy had many of the same aggravating factors as
Deleon. Furthermore, Kennedy has a prior Strike for an attempted murder
conviction in 1988.
*Even though Mr. Kennedy was late in joining the conspiracy, without Kennedy
providing the muscle, this crime could not have been carried out.

*We also found aggravating the callous and nonchalant manner in which
Kennedy acted after he personally murdered the Hawks.

*We also considered Mr. Kennedy’s gang membership in a Los Angeles County
street gang an aggravating factor.

Based on those findings, I have decided to pursue the death penalty on
John Kennedy.

These two joined in this cruel and callous murder. Deleon the brain, Kennedy
the brawn. Now they will face the same penalty and their fate will be decided by
the People of Orange County.

Murder Defendant Pleads Not Guilty to Plotting Deaths of Father and Cousin

Salesman says he is in hiding because he's scared of his son, who is accused of throwing a couple overboard from their yacht off Newport Beach. By Sara Lin and Christine Hanley, Times Staff Writers
August 1, 2006

A Long Beach man accused of handcuffing a retired couple to an anchor of their yacht and throwing them overboard pleaded not guilty Monday to plotting hits on his father and cousin, who are potential witnesses against him.

The prosecutor said there were audio and video recordings of accused murderer Skylar Deleon soliciting two inmates to commit the crimes, according to defense attorney Gary Pohlson.

Pohlson said he did not put much stock in the recordings, saying Deleon "is a guy who talks a lot. I try to encourage him not to talk so much. He does tend to embellish stories."

Wearing an orange jumpsuit, Deleon, 26, wiped tears from his red-rimmed eyes as he sat behind a wire mesh barrier in Orange County Superior Court in Newport Beach.

Prosecutors say Deleon tried to persuade a fellow inmate at Orange County Jail to kill his father in 2005. He allegedly solicited another inmate last week to kill his cousin, who could testify against him in an unrelated murder case.

Deleon's father, John Jacobson, said Monday he didn't want to believe investigators when they told him his son wanted him dead. Jacobson said that since the case broke, he had been looking over his shoulder and staying on the move while working as a salesman.

He described the ordeal involving his son as "a bad dream you never wake up from."

"I wanted to come back to California, but I didn't, out of fear…. I wasn't taking any chances. I was staying in hiding and staying away," he said.

Jacobson said investigators told him his son initially tried to blame him for the Hawks slayings. If that is true, Jacobson said, Deleon might want him killed, so he couldn't defend himself.

Jacobson, who has two other children, said his son became a different person after he served in the Marines and changed his name from John Jacobson Jr. Deleon received a less-than-honorable discharge.

"I believe he is a sick individual," the father said. "I love him because he's my blood and family. But somewhere along the line, he changed, I guess."

Jacobson said his family wanted to send their condolences to the Hawks family, calling the situation tragic for everyone involved.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy wouldn't say what testimony Deleon's father and cousin could give.

He would not confirm that authorities had Deleon on tape asking people to kill them.

The new charges represent the latest twist in the disappearance of Tom and Jackie Hawks, who authorities allege were murdered at sea somewhere between Newport Beach and Santa Catalina Island. Their bodies have not been found.

The Hawkses had decided to sell their 55-foot yacht Well Deserved and return to Arizona to dote on their newly born first grandchild. They thought they had found a buyer in Deleon, and they took him and two of his friends on a final test drive.

Deleon and three others, including his wife, Jennifer, 24, are charged with the special circumstances of murder of multiple victims and murder for financial gain.

Eight months after his arrest, Deleon was charged in the 2003 slaying of Jon P. Jarvi, a man he had met while serving a burglary sentence at the Seal Beach City Jail.

Jarvi, a pilot and jewelry maker, was found with his throat slashed in Mexico. Deleon is accused of killing Jarvi and stealing $50,000 from him.

Deleon's cousin, Michael W. Lewis Jr. of Oatman, Ariz., was arrested, accused of being an accomplice in that case. He has been released from jail.

The new charges add 11 years to potential sentences Deleon could receive in the two murder cases. The district attorney's office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

Ryan Hawks, son of Tom Hawks, sat a few feet from Deleon Monday. "I want him to know that I'm there," Hawks said outside the courthouse. "I want him to realize this is what he took from the rest of my family."

Judge Craig E. Robison set an Oct. 6 preliminary hearing on the witness-murder solicitation charges.

O.C. Prisoner Faces More Charges
Skylar Deleon allegedly conspired to kill two witnesses -- his father and a cousin -- while awaiting trial in death of couple missing at sea. By Christine Hanley, Times Staff Writer
July 29, 2006

A Long Beach man awaiting a murder trial for allegedly handcuffing a retired couple to an anchor and throwing them into the open sea was charged Friday with trying to arrange the killing of two witnesses from his jail cell.

One is his father. The other is a cousin, who could testify against him in an unrelated murder case.

Skylar Deleon, 26, is scheduled Monday to face allegations that he tried to persuade a fellow inmate at the Orange County Jail to kill his father in 2005, and solicited another inmate this week to kill his cousin. Neither the father nor cousin could be reached for comment.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy, the lead prosecutor in the case, declined to provide details of the latest charges.

Deleon's attorney, Gary Pohlson of Lake Forest, could not be reached for comment.

The new charges are the latest twist in a macabre tale marked by the horrific way in which authorities say Tom and Jackie Hawks were killed: Handcuffed together to the anchor of their 55-foot yacht Well Deserved, they were tossed overboard somewhere between Newport Beach and Santa Catalina Island. Their bodies were never found.

Prosecutors allege the plot to kill the couple, plunder their bank accounts and steal the vessel was planned by Deleon after he spotted the boat being advertised for sale for $440,000. His wife and three others helped him carry out the plan in November 2004, according to prosecutors.

At the time, the Hawkses, who had spent nearly two adventure-filled years plying the waters along the coast of Baja California and into the Sea of Cortez, decided to buy a smaller boat and return to Arizona so they could spend more time with their newly born first grandchild.

Deleon, who was born John Julius Jacobson, the same name as his father, convinced the Hawkses that he had starred in the "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" television show in the early 1990s. Between his acting and real estate investments, he told them, money wasn't a problem. At the time, Deleon and his wife were living in her parents' garage in Long Beach.

On Nov. 15, 2004, the Hawkses sailed out of Newport Beach Harbor with Deleon and two other men, Alonso Machain, 22, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 40. Thomas Hawks had told a friend that he wanted to make sure Deleon knew how to operate the boat. Once at sea, the couple was forced to sign the transfer of title documents before they were killed, according to authorities.

Deleon told police he had paid the Hawkses more than $400,000 in cash for the boat and watched as they got into their silver Honda CR-V and drove off.

What really happened, authorities say, is that Deleon drove the Hawkses' car to an Arizona bank, where he tried unsuccessfully to empty the couple's bank account. He tried again a few days later with no luck, then abandoned the couple's car in Mexico, police say.

Deleon and three others including his wife, Jennifer Deleon, 24, are charged with the special circumstances of murder of multiple victims and murder for financial gain.

Eight months after his arrest, Deleon was charged in the 2003 slaying of a man he had befriended while serving a burglary sentence at the Seal Beach City Jail.

Pilot and jewelry maker Jon P. Jarvi was found with his throat slashed in Mexico days after he had finished a brief federal sentence for counterfeiting. He had just netted $50,000 pawning his van and refinancing his Tustin condominium.

Jarvi had told his mother he was going to Mexico on a "no-lose" business deal, then went to his bank and cashed two checks, authorities say. Later that day, Deleon paid $18,000 in cash to have his 26-foot cabin cruiser refitted, deposited about $21,000 in cash in the bank and bought a $2,200 wedding band for his wife, authorities say.

Deleon's cousin, Michael W. Lewis Jr., of Oatman, Ariz., was arrested on suspicion of being an accomplice in that case. He has been released from jail. Deleon is accused of trying to solicit an inmate Wednesday to kill him, prosecutors said.

Cops say alleged killer planned a hit on his dad

By Lauren Vane

Breaking News
The alleged mastermind of the murder of a retired Newport Beach couple has been charged for soliciting the murder of his father and a witness, the Orange County District Attorney's office said Friday.

Skylar Deleon, 26, allegedly asked a fellow inmate to kill his father, John Jacobson Sr., and his cousin, Mike Lewis. Lewis is also in custody on charges that he was involved with Deleon in the 2003 murder of an Anaheim man.

Lewis and Deleon's father are described as "witnesses."

Deleon, of Long Beach, is one of five people awaiting trial in the killing Tom and Jackie Hawks in November 2004. The Hawks were allegedly tied to the anchor of their yacht and thrown overboard alive.

Ryan Hawks, the couple's son, said prosecutors have told him they will seek the death penalty for the slaying of his father and step-mother. The district attorney's office has not confirmed whether they will seek the death penalty, but special circumstance allegations qualify the charge as a capital crime.

Deleon is scheduled to be arraigned at 10 a.m. Monday in Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.

21 months since their daughter disappeared, a Concord Township couple is seeking closure
By: David S. Glasier/DGlasier@News-Herald.com 07/12/2006

Police arrested five who are believed to be connected to the crimes

Jack and Gayle O'Neill of Concord Township are finding out the hard way that the wheels of justice often turn slowly.
It's been 21 months since the O'Neills' daughter, former Mentor resident Jackie Hawks, disappeared on Nov. 15, 2004, with her husband, Tom Hawks, off the coast of Newport Beach, Calif.
An investigation of those disappearances by the Newport Beach Police Department led to the arrests of Southern California residents Skylar J. DeLeon, Jennifer H. DeLeon, Myron S. Gardner Sr., John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Alonso Machain.
In April 2005, in Orange County Superior Court, the five defendants each were charged with two counts of murder with special circumstances.
Those charges are based on allegations by police and prosecutors that the DeLeons, a married couple, posed as prospective buyers of the Hawkses' 55-foot cabin cruiser. Authorities said the DeLeons allegedly plotted to steal the boat during a test cruise, kill Tom and Jackie Hawks during the cruise by dumping them overboard, and then steal money from the Hawkses' bank accounts using power-of-attorney forms obtained from the Hawkses under extreme duress.
All of the defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Although there have been some preliminary hearings in Orange County Superior Court in the last year, the actual trial is not scheduled to begin until Jan. 29. By then, more than 26 months will have passed since the couple disappeared.
Jack O'Neill said earlier this week he and his wife are "a little frustrated" with the situation.
"The longer this drags on, the less contact we have with people out there, and the more things cool down," O'Neill said.
Orange County Public Affairs Counsel Susan Schroeder said she is sympathetic to the feelings of the O'Neills.
"You can add our frustration to their frustration," said Schroeder, who explained that prosecutors are moving deliberately as they consider seeking the death penalty against some or all of the defendants.
"We want justice to be done and done as quickly as possible, but in murder cases with specifications, the court tends to give defense attorneys plenty of leeway," Schroeder said. "We know that going in, but we still hate it as much as the victims' families."
Further complicating matters is another murder charge against Skylar J. DeLeon, filed in August 2005, in connection with the December 2004 death of John Jarvi in Mexico. DeLeon's trial in that murder case also is scheduled to begin Jan. 29 in Orange County Superior Court. Ryan Hawks, the 30-year-old son of Tom Hawks, voiced his frustration with the pace of legal proceedings during a telephone interview earlier this week from his home in the San Diego area.
"You realize it's the economics of the court system, and you understand that the second murder charge (against Skylar J. DeLeon) necessarily slows things down, but that doesn't make this any less painful," Hawks said. "As time goes by, you want closure."
Jack O'Neill credits Ryan Hawks for doing "great work" in keeping the deaths of his father and stepmother in the forefront of public consciousness. Hawks started and maintains www.tomandjackiehawks.com, a Web site that stays abreast of all developments in the case.
Ryan Hawks has also made appearances on cable-TV talk shows hosted by Larry King and Nancy Grace. He also was prominently featured in "Deadly Waters," a documentary about the alleged murder plot that aired on E! cable channel.
Ryan Hawks and the O'Neills hope prosecutors seek the death penalty against all defendants charged with the murders of Tom and Jackie Hawks.
"I'm from the old school. I believe people should be treated the way they treat other people," Jack O'Neill said.
"My parents were good, All-American people, and they were brutally murdered,"' Ryan Hawks said. "The people who murdered them will never get the punishment they really deserve."

Newport couple part of 'E! True Hollywood Story'

Tom and Jackie Hawks, allegedly murdered at sea in 2004, will be part of a larger segment on ocean-related mysteries.

Thursday, March 23, 2006
By JEFF OVERLEY
The Orange County Register

NEWPORT BEACH – Tom and Jackie Hawks, a Newport Beach couple allegedly murdered at sea in 2004, will be the subject of an "E! True Hollywood Story" airing in June, according to a network official.

Dan Mercaldi, a production assistant at E! Entertainment, said the case will be part of a larger segment on ocean-related mysteries. The couple's son, Ryan, will be interviewed, as will local prosecutors and reporters involved in the case, Mercaldi said.

Prosecutors allege the Hawkses were killed at sea in a murder-for-profit scheme by several people who plotted to steal their 55-foot yacht.

The suspects are awaiting trial in the case.

Well Deserved is towed away

Daily Pilot, December 21st 2005

Harbor Patrol deputies on Tuesday were moving Well Deserved, the boat that belonged to Tom and Jackie Hawks, from its mooring in Newport Harbor to a more secure location out of the water.

The boat, which belonged to the couple that police believe were murdered, was towed from its mooring early Tuesday and was to be hauled out of the water, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Bill Hartford.
The police "decided to pull it out of the water and move it to a more secure location that would provide security as well as protect it from the elements," Hartford said.

The move was not prompted by any specific security concerns, Hartford said.

Tom and Jackie Hawks, a retired Newport Beach couple, were allegedly tied to the boat's anchor and thrown overboard alive in November 2004.

Three people have been ordered to stand trial for their deaths.

The 55-foot cabin cruiser Well Deserved remains in police possession.

Cruising Couple Remembered on Grim Anniversary
Wednesday, November 23, 2005 By Marisa O'Neil

Family sails to the spot they believe Tom and Jackie Hawks were killed one year ago.

San Diego resident Ryan Hawks has been around boats his whole life. But a trip to the waters off Santa Catalina Island on November 15 held a special, though tragic, meaning.

He, his brother Matt, Uncle Jim and some friends of his father, Tom Hawks, tossed a wreath in the water, shared stories and remembered Tom and Jackie Hawks on the first anniversary of their disappearance at sea.

Across the country, Ohio resident Gayle O'Neill lit a candle and thought about her daughter Jackie, last seen on November 15, 2004.

Police and prosecutors believe that on that day, the cruising couple were taking who they thought were prospective buyers on a test cruise aboard their trawler when they were overpowered, bound together to the anchor and thrown overboard, still alive.

Tom Hawks, 57, and Jackie Hawks, 47, have not been found, but Ryan and Matt Hawks and their uncle, Jim Hawks, held a private remembrance for them near the spot they believe Tom and Jackie rest, together, on the ocean bottom.

“We were basically floating over my parent's grave,” Ryan Hawks, 29, said of the gathering miles out at sea, with no land in sight.