Hawkins Case Judge Denies Testimony

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge decided Friday not to allow a jury to hear medical testimony indicating that gang member Anttwon Thomas may have died due to inadequate medical care rather than as the direct result of a shotgun wound allegedly inflicted by murder defendant James Hawkins Jr.

Judge Ronald S. W. Lew, agreeing with arguments presented by Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss, ruled that the issue of possible medical negligence in Thomas’ death was irrelevant. Lew said the defense “has not met its burden to overcome the fact the wound was dangerous and calculated to cause death.”

Giss, without conceding that Thomas died due to medical negligence, had argued that under California case law a surgeon’s negligence cannot be cited as a murder defense if the defendant inflicted a dangerous wound on the victim.

Defense attorney Janis Rader had sought to introduce evidence before the jury from Dr. Robert Bucklin, a supervising pathologist for the San Diego County coroner’s office. Bucklin had testified, without the jury present, that Thomas died because of blood loss due to medical negligence at Martin Luther King Hospital.

Hawkins, whose murder trial continues Monday, is charged with shooting Thomas, 19, several minutes after they exchanged words when Hawkins broke up an altercation outside his family’s Watts grocery store.