Woman guilty in two killings

Murder victim Jackie O'Neill Hawks grew up in Mentor, Ohio.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- A woman accused of helping her husband and several accomplices kill a wealthy couple for their yacht was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder Friday.
Jennifer Deleon, 25, was convicted in the Nov. 15, 2004, deaths of Tom Hawks, a retired probation officer, and his 47-year-old wife, Jackie, who, according to testimony, were tied to an anchor and thrown overboard.
She was also convicted of murder for financial gain.
The prosecution said Deleon, a mother of two, helped her husband, Skylar Deleon, gain the trust of the Hawkses before the killings by bringing her baby on a visit, helped cover up the murders and lied to investigators.
Her defense attorney, Michael Molfetta, had argued that Deleon was a manipulated wife who was terrified of her husband and didn't know of his plans to kill the Hawkses until after they were dead.
"I guarantee you this was Skylar's idea, and I think the jury reasoned, probably, he just talked her into it," Molfetta said Friday.
Because prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty, Jennifer Deleon will face the possibility of life in prison without parole when she is sentenced Feb. 23.
Other trials set
However, Deleon's husband and a man named John Fitzgerald Kennedy could face death sentences if convicted of the murders. Both men, who are scheduled for trial early next year, have prior convictions. Two other men have also been charged in the case and face separate trials.
The Hawkses had been living aboard the yacht Well Deserved after moving from Prescott, Ariz. Jackie Hawks grew up in Mentor, Ohio. Her parents, Jack and Gayle O'Neill, live in nearby Concord Township.
Prosecutors allege that the Deleons approached the Hawkses about buying the yacht and persuaded them to go on a test ride at sea. Once at sea, prosecutors say, Skylar Deleon, Kennedy and 22-year-old Alonso Machain overpowered the couple, forced them to sign over ownership of the yacht, tied them to an anchor and threw them overboard. The bodies have never been found.
The Deleons then cleaned the boat with bleach and arranged to have the ownership papers notarized with backdates, according to prosecutors. The couple also tried to withdraw money from the victims' Arizona bank account and conspired with Machain to make it look like the Hawkses had moved to Mexico, the prosecution said.
Ryan Hawks, son of the murdered couple, noted that although Jennifer Deleon's family had suffered since her arrest, they will still get a chance to see her in jail.
"To see my parents, I have to look through ... the cold Pacific Ocean," Hawks told KABC-TV.