Bereaved son waits for justice

Ryan Hawks has had three years to think of what he wants to say at Jennifer Henderson Deleon’s sentencing.

“Justice in my eyes is kind of a paradox,” Hawks said. “But it’s the best thing I have to work with.”

Hawks, 31, who lives in Cardiff by the Sea, will address Orange County Superior Court Friday morning on how the death of his father and stepmother three years ago has affected his life and how Henderson Deleon should pay for her role in the slayings of Tom and Jackie Hawks.

“It’s frustrating and painful to see her get sentenced a year later,” Hawks said. “I’ve been waiting for justice too long for me and all of my family for my life to be put on hold for Jennifer.”

Henderson Deleon will get an automatic life without parole sentence Friday for her role in the killings.

The prosecution said she used her children to gain the Hawkses’ trust, visiting the deck of the couple’s yacht, the Well Deserved, holding her 9-month-old daughter.

The prosecution says Henderson Deleon’s husband, Skylar Deleon, and his friend John F. Kennedy later forced the Hawkses to sign over the title to their yacht before allegedly throwing the couple overboard.

Their bodies were never found.

Henderson Deleon, a hair stylist from Long Beach, was found guilty nearly a year ago in November 2006. Sentencing was delayed when she switched attorneys after the verdict, to give her new lawyer time to research her case.

“I’m not going to go up there to say my thoughts and feelings,” Hawks said of the sentencing hearing. “It doesn’t make a difference that she murdered my parents and destroyed my life, because she doesn’t care and has no respect for human life. I’m going to go up there to give the court my ideas on her sentence.”

Deleon and Kennedy await trial in January 2008. To Hawks’ dismay their trial has been delayed twice over the past two years. Both men face the death sentence if convicted.

“Their case has been delayed multiple times so they can go over their defense and prove their innocence,” Hawks said. “I wish they would have given my parents just one chance to live.”

Henderson Deleon declined the Daily Pilot’s request for an interview through her attorney Jeremy Goldman. She awaits sentencing at Central Women’s Jail in Santa Ana. Goldman also declined to comment until after the sentencing hearing Friday.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.