Dave Hawk seeks new trial in murder of ex-wife

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The man convicted in one of the Valley's most sensational murder cases is asking for a new trial.

The attorney for Dave Hawk told the State Court of Appeals in Fresno that Hawk, who's from Lemoore, did not get a fair trial in Kings County.

Dave Hawk was convicted of killing his former wife Debbie five years ago. Her body was never found and there was no physical evidence connecting Dave Hawk to the murder, but a Kings County jury found him guilty and he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

His attorney told the appeals hearing Hawk was only convicted because the jury pool had been tainted by excessive newspaper and TV coverage.

The search for Debbie Hawk, a mother of three, the arrest and trial of her ex-husband Dave generated tremendous media interest. In the case argued before the Appeals Court, Hawk's lawyer Mark Coleman cited 900 stories in the local paper, and hundreds more on radio and TV, including ABC30.

"Of course Channel 30 is the most watched news station," said Coleman. "I think there were more than 200 articles on Channel 30 alone."

Coleman believes all that attention made it impossible to find an unbiased jury in Kings County. He notes half of the 12 on the panel told the judge they already believed Hawk was guilty, but were seated anyway.

"A defendant is presumed to be innocent but when you start a case with 50 percent of the jury believing you're guilty it's an affront to the nature of the system, its contrary to what our whole criminal justice system is supposed to be all about," said Coleman.

That bias, Coleman claims, led the jury to convict, despite the lack of evidence.

"If they would have had fingerprints, if they would have had eyewitnesses, if they would have a confession, if they would have had any physical evidence whatsoever tying him to the murder of Debbie Hawk it would have been a different case, because maybe he would have been convicted anyway," said Coleman. "But in this case the only reason I believe he was convicted was because of the overwhelming media coverage and the preconceptions of the jurors that came into court."

The State Attorney General's office defended the conviction noting disputes over child support and evidence that Hawk embezzled money from his children's trust funds are part of the circumstantial evidence that convicted him.

Dave Hawk's parents and one daughter appeared at Wednesday's hearing. It's expected to take three to four months for the court to decide if he gets a new trial.