Attorney Bill Speek confers with Billy Hawk, who is charged in a 34-year-old murder
photo by Claire Henley Miller
In the 34-year-old unsolved murder case that recently spotlighted Billy Hawk as the prime suspect, criminal defense attorneys are seeking court files from the 1980s to review before Hawk’s trial.
During Monday’s discovery motion, filed on behalf of the defense to obtain certain evidence, defense attorney Jonathan Turner said the state was in possession of judgments and court files from Hawk’s trial in the 1980’s that the defense could not obtain.
Hawk, 61, was arrested last September after a Cold Case team in the District Attorney’s office resurrected the murder case of Johnny Mack Salyer.
On June 3, 1981, a 55-gallon steel drum was found floating in the Tennessee River near Lakesite. Salyer’s body was inside.
At the time, Hawk – whose family long operated Holiday Bowl in Brainerd – and Salyer were co-defendants in a pending cocaine distribution case.
Since he was arrested, the defendant has consistently maintained that he is innocent of the murder.
Monday morning, Criminal Court Judge Don Poole allowed state attorneys 15 minutes to review the request for the dated court files. After the review, District Attorney General Neal Pinkston agreed to allow the defense access to them.
During the discovery motion held two weeks ago, defense attorney Jim Logan requested that Salyer’s chest X-ray be submitted as evidence for the jury trial scheduled for April 5. He requested the barrel where the victim’s body was found be issued as evidence too.
According to attorney Logan, officials exhumed the victim’s body and found a bullet hole in the chest. But the original forensic report allegedly did not show the presence of a bullet.
Because a number of X-rays were taken of the victim after his death, attorney Logan requested the chest X-ray as evidence. General Pinkston, who created the Cold Case Unit, said medical examiners had located every X-ray taken at the time of the murder except the chest X-ray.
The barrel where Salyer’s body was found could not be located either, General Pinkston said.
The barrel would serve as a key piece of evidence that could possibly exonerate Hawk of the crime, as his DNA was never associated with the barrel, attorney Logan said.
“The government has failed to preserve perhaps the most significant piece of evidence in this case,” he stated.
At that time, Judge Poole granted the request for the chest X-ray and barrel as evidence. He said if they were not available then the state needed to provide an explanation to the defense as to why.
Defense attorney Bill Speek, who is also representing Hawk, said the defense is seeking forensic proof because eyewitness testimonies 34 years after the murder would be unreliable. But forensic proof – like the chest X-ray and barrel – stayed the same over time.
He said Hawk has professed his innocence “this entire time,” and that an innocent man stood behind bars.
During today’s discovery motion, Hawk sat calmly before Judge Poole in a red jail jumpsuit as the judge scheduled his “extensive” pre-trial hearing for March 4.
Outside the courtroom, defense attorneys said if the court finds Hawk guilty of the murder, the conviction carries a life sentence.