Death of Gang Member Called Accidental : Lawyer for Watts Grocer’s Son Alleges That Witnesses Have Lied

The 1983 shotgun killing of a Nickerson Gardens gang member that sparked violent retaliation against the family of Watts grocer James Hawkins Sr. was an accident, an attorney for Hawkins’ son told a Los Angeles Superior Court jury Monday.

In her opening statement in the murder trial of James Hawkins Jr., 41, attorney Janis A. Rader said the gang member died after a sawed-off shotgun he pulled from his trousers accidentally discharged in a struggle with the younger Hawkins.

The struggle began, Rader said, after Hawkins and his 75-year-old father broke up a gang robbery outside the Hawkins store.

Rader said she will prove that prosecution witnesses had reason to lie when they testified that the younger Hawkins deliberately killed Anttwon Thomas, 19, a member of the Bounty Hunters gang, with a shotgun that Hawkins had retrieved from a nearby trailer. She did not elaborate.

Thomas’ death on Sept. 11, 1983, triggered two nights of violence in which members of the Bounty Hunters attacked the Hawkins home and business at Slater Avenue and Imperial Highway with bullets, Molotov cocktails and an automobile. The gang is based in the Nickerson Gardens housing project, across the street from the Hawkins property.

The senior Hawkins’ vow to stay in the neighborhood despite the violent attacks drew the attention of the media and Mayor Tom Bradley, who, along with law enforcement officials, personally encouraged the embattled grocer.

Seventeen gang members eventually were convicted of crimes stemming from the retaliatory attacks.

The younger Hawkins was not charged with Thomas’ murder until April, 1984, when a witness who said he saw the killing surfaced at a preliminary hearing for 14 of the gang members.

That witness, Ed Lewis, 27, provided the most damaging testimony for the prosecution during the murder trial, which began June 24.

Lewis told the jury that he watched from across Imperial Highway as Hawkins Jr. walked to a trailer near the grocery, returned with a sawed-off shotgun, pulled Thomas out of a family-operated arcade adjacent to the grocery and raised the shotgun to Thomas’ chest. Then, Lewis said, the gun went off, fatally wounding Thomas.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss, who is prosecuting the case, presented two other witnesses, both teen-age boys, who corroborated all or parts of Lewis’ account.

Another witness called by Giss, however, appeared to harm the prosecution’s case more than help it.

Newton Hawkins, 38, a brother of the defendant, testified several times that he had seen James Hawkins Jr. get the shotgun from the trailer, only to deny it minutes later. Acting on his own, Newton Hawkins last February gave authorities a tape-recorded statement that implicated his brother in Thomas’ death.

During the trial, Newton Hawkins told a clearly surprised Giss that his earlier statements had been intended to mislead the prosecution.

Giss presented 11 witnesses before resting his case on July 11. The trial resumed Monday after a two-week recess.