Hawkins Jury Urges Life Imprisonment, No Parole for 2 Murders

James Hawkins Jr. should be imprisoned for life without possibility of parole for the execution-style murders of two reputed drug dealers, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury recommended Tuesday.

Hawkins, 43, once regarded as a community hero for battling street gangs along with his grocer-father, could have been eligible for the death penalty for the murders and robberies of Roger Grant and Larry Turner in June, 1984.

The same jury that convicted Hawkins last August determined that a life sentence “would still be an appropriate punishment for the type of crimes that he committed,” foreman Jim Wiggin said.

‘Gruesome’ Crime

Wiggin, 41, a federal government worker, said the panel, which began deliberating Nov. 20, had more trouble reaching a penalty verdict in Turner’s death because it was more “gruesome” than the other slaying. Turner’s bound and gagged body was found at his South Los Angeles home, and Grant’s was discovered on a Fontana road.

Both had been shot several times.

Other jurors said the panel was evenly split at the outset, but it eventually became apparent that some members would not budge on the death penalty.

“There are still individuals that couldn’t give death no matter what, because of personal feelings or religious feelings,” said a 40-year-old government worker who did not wish his name published.

“I just don’t think that this was a death penalty case,” said co-defense counsel Barry Levin. “The evidence was very weak and circumstantial. . . . James Hawkins had a lot of things in his background that were very inconsistent with the grisly murderer that he was portrayed to be.”

Protection From Gang

Witnesses testified during the penalty phase that Hawkins and his father had intervened to protect them from a gang at the Nickerson Gardens housing project near the family’s Watts grocery, Levin said.

In their closing arguments, prosecutors cited a criminal record dating back to 1969 in urging jurors to vote for the death penalty.

“The defendant has led a life of crime and violence and murder, all to satisfy his immediate needs and wants, all committed as an adult, not as a youth,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss argued.

Formal sentencing of Hawkins, who is already serving a 28-year prison term for manslaughter in the 1983 slaying of a gang member, was set for Dec. 24. Marshall Bridges, a co-defendant in the Turner and Grant murders, is awaiting trial.

Hawkins also faces charges in Contra Costa County arising from a November, 1985, gunfight with a sheriff’s deputy that occurred after he escaped from the Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles.