Page 31 - Dave Hawk News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

First-degree murder and a special circumstance murder for financial gain. he pleaded not guilty. when the trial finally began more than a year later dave faced murder and the earlier embezzlement charges together. prosecutor larry crouch offered the jury this theory, that dave snuck out of his house in the middle of the night without waking his sleeping children, maybe even used a ladder to get out of the window, and got someone to give him a ride to debbie's house and entered her bedroom. >> i think he tried the stun gun on her and she screamed very loudly and he struck her with something mor...

Mary. >> he never discussed it with mary, he never discussed it with the children at all. they did not know it existed. >> they couldn't find anything to connect the stun gun to the crime but it was odd. they also took his computers, of 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. i'm getting tired of answering that question. no means no. but the fools at the hanford police depart...

That accomplice, said the prosecutor, must have picked him up and driven him the 40 miles back to his farm. but really, there was no body, no dna, no forensic evidence to show dave had even been at the murder scene. everybody in town seemed to have a theory, apparently the prosecutor did, too. but proof? so the state tried to build a bridge from dave's alleged financial crimes to a murder, painting him as an evil man who 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. >> there's a number of other explanations for ...

Same way they didn't expect to defend their son. >> he made some mistakes, but nothing of the scope that is generally accepted in the community. >> stan established those trusts for his grandchildren and said dave had the right to use the 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 debbie's disappearance. her body still hadn't been found and there was no new evidence tying dave to her murder. but...

Not like one bit. >> dave is a combative individual, he is prideful, he is up ended easily. >> he thinks he is smart and hates for anyone to think he is not smart. he would be perfect fodder for a trained prosecutor. >> and so dave held his tongue in court. he saved his story for us. so you don't think they had any useful evidence against you at all? >> can anybody name anything? coming up -- dave hawk speaks out and so does the jury. >> we, the jury, find the defendant, david martin hawk -- >> when "dateline" continues. ♪ protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. fron...