Hawkins Case: Jury Labels It Manslaughter

In what they described as a “compromise verdict,” a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury Thursday convicted James Hawkins Jr. of voluntary manslaughter in the 1983 slaying of a 19-year-old gang member whose death triggered a widely publicized gang attack on the Hawkins’ family home and long-established grocery store in Watts.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss, who had asked the jury to convict Hawkins of second-degree murder in the slaying of Anttwon Thomas, said that Hawkins faces a sentence of up to 33 years in prison on the manslaughter conviction.

Thomas was shot and killed outside the Hawkins family’s grocery store in September, 1983, shortly after Hawkins and his father, James Hawkins Sr., came to the defense of a family that had been accosted by Thomas and several other gang members as the family rode bicycles through the neighborhood.

Thomas’ death sparked two nights of violent reprisals by gang members against the Hawkins family. Maintaining that they were innocent victims of gang violence, the embattled Hawkins clan drew national attention, as well as the initial backing of Mayor Tom Bradley and other public and police officials.

Several months after the original incident, however, Hawkins Jr., an ex-convict, was charged with murder after an eyewitness to the killing of Thomas surfaced at a court hearing in a separate case involving the gang members.

During Hawkins’ two-month trial, the defense claimed that Thomas was shot accidentally as Hawkins Jr. struggled to defend himself after the youth pulled a sawed-off shotgun from his trousers.

The prosecution, however, charged that Hawkins used his own shotgun to kill Thomas in “cold blood.”

Ed Lewis, a dispatcher for a private alarm company who said he watched the incident from across the street, provided the most damaging testimony against Hawkins.

Lewis testified that he saw Hawkins Jr. retrieve the shotgun from his nearby recreational vehicle, then return to the store and pull Thomas outside, where he shot the youth. Another witness corroborated Lewis’ account.

Father Changes Story

James Hawkins Sr., who corroborated his son’s version of the incident, appeared to contradict himself by first testifying that he had seen the youth with the gun, but then acknowledging that he had not actually seen who was holding the shotgun as the two men struggled outside.

Following Thursday’s verdict, prosecutor Giss described the case as an “uphill struggle,” because Thomas was not a “likable, sympathetic victim.”

But noting that 18 gang members were eventually convicted of charges involving terrorizing the Hawkins family with guns and Molotov cocktails, Giss called the Hawkins verdict an example of “even-handed justice.”

Hawkins’ attorneys, however, who said the family plans to appeal the conviction, claimed that the jury was unduly biased by the inference that the 18 gang members were sent to prison because of the family’s testimony and by the prosecutor’s emphasis on Hawkins’ prior criminal record, which Giss said included robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

Jury foreman Ronald E. Lacy said that a majority of the six men and six women on the jury did not believe the testimony of Hawkins or his father and were prepared to convict Hawkins of second-degree murder. One juror, however, who remained unconvinced by the evidence against Hawkins, forced a compromise to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, Lacy said.

Another juror, Janet Lanoix, 43, said that several of the women jurors felt sympathy for Hawkins’ family members, especially his 75-year-old father, who regularly attended the trial.

But she added that she was among several jurors who believed that “the family got together and manufactured the whole (Hawkins defense) story, but didn’t get it completely straight,” judging from some of the contradictory testimony they presented.

Hawkins family members expressed anger and shock at the verdict.

“I don’t understand it,” said a visibly shaken James Hawkins Sr. The prosecutor “said I lied, my family lied, the cops lied. . . . I don’t consider this justice.”

“This thug (Thomas) should be on trial, he should be found guilty,” said Hawkins Jr.’s wife, Helena, “not my husband.”

Hawkins’ sentence could range from eight to 33 years in prison, Giss said. Superior Court Judge Ronald S. W. Lew will set a sentencing hearing for Hawkins after considering information on his five prior felony convictions, Giss said.

Hawkins still faces trial on another murder charge involving the shooting death in June, 1984, of two narcotics dealers.