San Diego

John Mark Hewicker III, son of a prosecutor and grandson of a deceased Superior Court judge, has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for two bank robberies. U.S. Dist. Judge J. Lawrence Irving, in handing down the sentence Friday, also imposed a five-year probationary term upon Hewicker’s release.

Because of concerns for Hewicker’s safety, the judge ordered him to serve his term in a prison in Eglund, Fla., where his security would be at lesser risk. Hewicker, 22, is the son of Deputy Dist. Atty. John Hewicker II and grandson of the late John Hewicker, a Superior Court judge who was known as “the hanging judge.”

Hewicker had pleaded guilty to charges of robbing two banks in San Diego in December, 1984, in what authorities said was an attempt to support his cocaine habit. The elder Hewicker told the judge the family had been involved in therapy with his son and would continue to support his treatment.