Page 18 - Dave Hawk News Today

The alignment of the stars in this case was just stacked against us. stacked against dave hawk. >> at least in the harsh court of public opinion it looked bad for dave hawk as his murder trial approached in hanford, california. dennis peterson and mark coleman were daves attorneys. >> this guy allegedly stealing from his kids, saying bad things about this sympathetic victim and all these things being widely played in the press. >> if there ever was a case for change of venue, this must be it, sa...

Course. and since dave did volunteer work at a local church they seized the church computer, too. even cuffed him outside his house in full view of local television cameras which were now buzzing around endlessly asking, did you do it? >> for the last time, no. im getting tired of answering that question. no means no. but the fools at the hanford police department dont seem to understand that. they are on a witch hunt is what is going on.

To decide. >> we, the jury, find the defendant, david martin hawk, guilty of the murder of debbie hawk. >> guilty of murder and nine financial crimes. dave hawk was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars. but is it over? no. defense attorneys will appeal claiming some jurors were swayed and the children, for them, it may never end. its complicated, huh? >> yep.

More time with the children. >> his response was to ask for half custody. the percentages were 65 with debbie and 35 with dave. he wanted to make it an even 50-50. and that is when the battle moved to these, trust funds set up for the childrens futures the mon came from daves father but dave controlled the funds and debbie was sure dave was stealing from them to support his own lifestyle. why would she think that? well, this was actually the second set of trusts established for the children. sev...

The most obvious suspect. >> chelsa isnt the only one in this small town who believes dave hawk is innocent. >> i believe what he says, that he had nothing to do with her disappearance. >> sandy brown is daves longtime pastor and friend. >> this person who is portrayed as such a monster just simply isnt. he is a man who has worked hard in the church. he is a good father. >> as their son prepares to face serious financial charges, daves parents took over the care of chelsa and savannah. not the w...

Happened just didnt add up. >> that is just beyond belief that somebody would take that kind of risk, he would sneak down the hallway, open the door, drive the ten or 12 miles over to debbie hawks house, subdue her, bludgeon her, load her into the van and drive to fresno and get back to his house without getting any blood on him, without being discovered. >> so what did happen to debbie hawk? the defense floated this theory. debbie worked in pharmaceutical sales. perhaps a drug addict had gone a...

Decided to eliminate his ex-wife when he knew the misuse of the trust funds was about to be exposed. enough? well, we shall see. >> theres a number of other explanations for what could have happened other than dave. dave was a convenient ex-husband. >> coming up -- one of his children is convinced hes not guilty, but can dave hawk convince a jury? >> i told them i wanted to testify. >> when "dateline" continues. the alignment of the stars with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline...

Money how he saw fit to benefit the children. were you surprised to discover how it was used? >> yes. apparently his financial situation was worse than i knew. >> a year passed in this gossipy limbo. now it was may, 2008, nearly two years after debbies disappearance. her body still hadnt been found and there was no new evidence tying dave to her murder. but prosecutor larry crouch heard disquieting reports from his investigators. >> they started surveilling our office, the police offices, eventu...

>> firecracker. >> he was the date, dave hawk. >> she was short and attractive and a lot of fun and pretty good sense of humor. youd say something and, man, she would pop back with something you didnt quite expect. >> they were married within a year. they built a home among his familys almond groves. >> i think they both wanted to have a family. i think that was like the impetus for the acceleration, i guess you would say, of the relationship.

Dave hawk on trial for the murder of his ex-wife debbie did not testify, didnt tell the members of the jury what he was thinking. he had a sinking feeling he knew what they were thinking. it was an awful problem the day his ex-wife disappeared in a trail of her own blood. the number one suspect was him. that is what the police had been saying all along. that is apparently what a great many people thought in hanford, california. even as he sat here as a defendant in a murder case. even though -- ...