Defense maintains doubt

When considering circumstantial evidence, jurors are instructed to look at the situation as a whole and use their common sense.

But what if common sense leans to both sides of the argument?

In the trial of John F. Kennedy, 43, of Long Beach, jurors are likely facing that very question.

On one side you have Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy, who claims Kennedy was the “muscle” in an elaborate plot to rob and kill a Newport Beach couple out at sea in 2004.

On the other side, defense attorneys Chuck Lindner and Winston McKesson, who point to the numerous unanswered questions about their client’s actions as enough to maintain reasonable doubt.

Jurors begin deliberating today.

In the final day of closing arguments, McKesson pointed to Kennedy’s behavior in the months up to and after Nov. 15, 2004, the day the Hawkses were slain. There were photos of Kennedy at church functions, working with the elderly during the summer. There were the months after the killings, when it appeared Kennedy made no effort to collect any money from the job, conceal evidence or even try to flee.

These, McKesson told jurors, are the actions of an innocent man. And it’s not the defense’s responsibility to provide an alibi, it’s the prosecution’s duty to prove its case, McKesson said.

“How dare Mr. Murphy assign [Kennedy] a job in the criminal justice system?” he said. “Don’t ignore one side at the expense of the other.”

Murphy countered during his rebuttal that when Kennedy chose to testify in his own defense, he opened himself, and his defense, to scrutiny.

“Everybody’s the same on the witness stand. And that’s how I dare assign him a job, he dared to take the stand and he didn’t tell the truth,” Murphy said passionately. “He chose to take the stand with the big boys. That guy lied to you 50 times.”

In a nearly four-hour monologue, McKesson went point by point through Murphy’s case, highlighting what he believes are weak links, miscalculations and untruths.

As Murphy did in his closing argument, McKesson first addressed cell-phone records, which a Verizon Wireless representative testified likely puts Kennedy’s phone at the crime scene.

The timelines don’t match up, he argued. An admitted accomplice in the killings, Alonso Machain, testified that he, convicted mastermind Skylar Deleon, and Kennedy were in Newport Beach when defense attorneys maintain Kennedy was in Long Beach.

These are just rough estimates at best, Murphy argued in rebuttal, and Machain’s memory is now more than four years old.

“Time was important to these men,” McKesson argued. “They had an appointment. A murderous appointment.”

Records show Kennedy’s phone was relaying calls from a Newport Beach cell-phone tower after midnight that night, around the time prosecutors say the men were returning from the crime, but McKesson did not address that.

Instead, he turned his focus to Machain, the man who freely admits that he was on the boat and helped kill the Hawkses.

Defense attorneys are emphasizing that during testimony earlier in the trial, Machain testified his accomplice did not have facial hair. In the courtroom and in photos taken days after the killings, Kennedy is seen sporting a long, braided goatee. Police testified that Machain’s testimony about specific details has changed over time, but during his first, truthful interviews, he said his accomplice possibly had facial hair.

Machain’s testimony is a prime example of what this case boils down to, who do they believe?

Do they believe another accused accomplice, Myron Gardner, who testified he linked Kennedy with the other killers? Or do they believe Kennedy, who testified he only talked to Gardner about buying Viagra?

Why would Gardner lie, it seems to only incriminate himself, Murphy posed to jurors. Why wouldn’t Kennedy run, or seek the money from the crime if he took part, McKesson countered.

“Just because you’re a criminal, doesn’t mean you have to be a good one,” Murphy said. “The defendant is the one who made sure that [the Hawkses] didn’t get out of hand. The defendant is the one that made this murder happen.”

“As long as you have a conclusion that innocence is reasonable, you have to adopt that conclusion,” McKesson said.

If Kennedy is convicted of all charges, prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the penalty phase of the trial.

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