‘He was active in the church’

Nine years ago Long Beach Pastor Leon Wood Jr. walked up to a group of men, among them a suspected gang member and convicted felon. Wood told them about his mission to change the face of North Long Beach, to put kids on a path to the straight and narrow. The pastor challenged one of them, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the accused gang member and convict, to listen to one of his sermons and not be convinced to help the community.

For the next five years up until he was arrested on suspicion of helping to kill a Newport Beach couple, Kennedy could be found with Wood every Wednesday and Sunday, working with at-risk youth and speaking “the Word,” Wood testified Monday.

Wood was the main character witness for Kennedy’s defense, which presented its first witnesses Monday.

Prosecutors rested their case against Kennedy last week. He’s accused of helping two other men, Skylar Deleon and accused accomplice Alonso Machain, kill Newport Beach retirees Tom and Jackie Hawks in November 2004 in hopes of stealing their boat and emptying their bank accounts. Authorities say Kennedy and the other men tied the Hawkses to an anchor and threw them overboard alive. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

“He was training to be a young minister; he was very active in the church,” Wood told jurors Monday. “I consider him close to being my son.”

The portrayals by prosecutors and defense attorneys are as different as night and day. Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy cross-examined a longtime friend of Kennedy who testified that in his younger days, Kennedy was a part of the Long Beach gang the Insane Crips. Murphy aimed to play up Kennedy’s past, filled with convictions for homicide and robbery.

Defense attorney Winston McKesson aimed to highlight Kennedy’s most recent years leading up to his arrest in March 2005, which Wood testified was filled with Christianity and reforming at-risk youth.

“When you have credibility, people will follow,” Wood testified. Kennedy’s past gave him credibility on the street and a connection to troubled kids that drew them to follow him to the North Long Beach Community Prayer Center, Wood told the jury.

In 2004, Wood testified, Kennedy and others “buried” their pasts by writing their old nicknames (Kennedy’s was “Crazy John”) and putting them in a waste basket at the front of the church. According to Wood’s testimony, Kennedy was already fully involved in the church by then, handing out turkeys on Thanksgiving and working with the elderly.

During cross-examination, Wood acknowledged that he knew nothing about Kennedy’s life before their meeting in 2000, nor did he know anything about the lives of gang members. Because Kennedy’s attorneys decided against calling up several other witnesses who could testify to Kennedy’s character, jurors will be left to judge him largely off Wood’s testimony and that of another longtime friend, Milton Mosley. Mosley testified that Kennedy was no longer a gang member when he was arrested and that he was a natural leader, so it doesn’t match up with prosecutors’ case that he would take orders from Deleon or anyone else.

Prosecutors point to phone records that put Kennedy’s cell phone near the scene of the crime when the Hawkses were last seen Nov. 15, 2004, and testimony from Machain and another suspected accomplice, Myron Gardner, who told jurors Kennedy helped kill the Hawkses.

Defense attorneys said they may have Kennedy take the stand in his own defense today. Closing statements are expected by the end of the week.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.