Jurors pick death penalty

There were no celebrations Friday afternoon from Newport Beach police, prosecutors or family as a jury recommended the death penalty for the Long Beach man who help kill a Newport Beach couple.

Instead, there were hugs, handshakes and relief that a painful chapter in the Hawks family’s lives neared conclusion.

After seven hours of deliberating, 12 Orange County jurors recommended that Long Beach gang member John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 43, be sentenced to death for helping kill retirees Tom and Jackie Hawks in 2004.

“The day goes to justice. It goes to the Newport Beach detectives and prosecutors. My family is forever in debt to them,” said Ryan Hawks, son of Tom and Jackie Hawks. “My family is at ease and will continue on with our lives. That’s what my parents would want.”

Kennedy was convicted last week of acting as the muscle in an elaborate plot to kill the Hawks aboard their yacht, Well Deserved, after forcing them to sign over legal ownership to their finances. Kennedy helped convicted killer Skylar Deleon and accused accomplice Alonso Machain tie the Hawkses to an anchor and throw them overboard.

Prosecutor Matt Murphy told jurors that drowning was the worst way to die.

“I can’t get past the way the Hawkses died,” said juror No. 8. Throughout the trial she and other jurors quietly cried through testimony about the Hawkses’ lives and their family members’ pain.

“We deliberated really hard; it was no light task,” said juror No. 7. “Just the enormity of the case, it was an overbearing and daunting task. Justice has been served,” he said.

“I just hope this helps the Hawks family,” said juror No. 4. “It was very emotional and difficult. It’s one thing you will never forget.”

All jurors interviewed requested anonymity.

Kennedy’s defense attorneys pleaded for his life during the trial’s penalty phase, saying his work counseling at-risk youth while working at a Long Beach church would help him be a force for good in prison.

But jurors said any good he could do in prison could not outweigh the calculated way the Hawkses were executed, or the suffering they and their family have endured.

Deleon was also recommended the death sentence. Deleon’s ex-wife, Jennifer Henderson, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Machain and Myron Gardner, charged with connecting Kennedy to his accomplices, testified in the three trials to seek prosecutors’ leniency.

Kennedy is scheduled to be sentenced March 27, a week after Deleon is sentenced.

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