Death for Deleon

The same jury that found Skylar Deleon guilty of three murders — including those of cruisers Tom and Jackie Hawks — spent 10 hours last week deciding his fate: life in prison or death by lethal injection. In his opening statement during the trial last month, Deleon’s lawyer acknowledged his client’s guilt, hoping to prove during the penalty phase that the murders were a direct result of his unhappy childhood. The jury didn’t buy it — they recommended the death penalty.

The Hawkses’ son Ryan has attended every day of both trials — Deleon’s and his ex-wife’s, Jennifer Henderson, who received life without the possibility of parole — and there’s little doubt he will do the same for the trial of John Kennedy, the Long Beach gang member who was the alleged "muscle" during the Hawkses’ murder, which is scheduled to start in January.