Deleon Sentenced to Life Times Two
Jennifer Deleon was sentenced on Friday to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for her part in the murder of cruisers Tom and Jackie Hawks. Prosecutors claim that Deleon’s husband, Skylar Deleon, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Alonso Machain, posing as potential buyers for the Hawks’ 55-ft trawler Well Deserved, accompanied the couple on a test sail. The allegations are that, once well out to sea, the three men overpowered the couple, forced them to sign legal documents, tied them to a large anchor and threw them overboard.
Last November, a jury found Jennifer Deleon guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and the special circumstances of murder for financial gain and multiple murder. Though the pregnant Deleon was not aboard Well Deserved that day, prosecutors successfully argued that she knew full well of her husband’s plan, and helped by bringing her baby along on an earlier visit to help gain the Hawks’ trust, cleaning the boat with bleach and lying to investigators. We wonder if she now regrets turning down the prosecutor’s pre-trial offer of immunity in exchange for testifying against her soon-to-be-ex-husband.
The trials for Skylar Deleon and John Kennedy have been postponed several times and are now scheduled to begin in January.