Another Conviction in the Hawks Case

It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the seven-woman, five-man jury in the trial of John Fitzgerald Kennedy — the 43-year-old reputed gang member accused of throwing Mexico vets Tom and Jackie Hawks overboard while on a sea trial of their 55-ft trawler Well Deserved in 2004 — took just three hours yesterday to return with a guilty verdict. Actually, they found him guilty on two counts of first-degree murder with the special circumstances of committing multiple murder for financial gain — a distinction that qualifies him for the death penalty, which prosecutor Matt Murphy is seeking. The penalty phase of the trial begins Monday.

Kennedy is the third person to be convicted of similar charges in the case. The accused mastermind of the plot to murder the Hawkses and then plunder their finances, Skylar Deleon, 29, was convicted in November and will likely be sentenced to death in March. His then-wife, Jennifer, 27, was sentenced in 2007 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for her role in the plot. Myron Gardner, 45, and Alonso Machain, 25, have cooperated with authorities in hopes of avoiding the death penalty, and will most likely enter pleas.