SIGHTINGS guilty — cont’d the defense painted DeLeon’s husband as a transgender wannabe who committed these grisly crimes to fund a sex change operation. One defense witness even testified that she let Skylar DeLeon try on her dresses. His lawyers deny the claims. Throughout the trial, the defense made much of the fact that all 86 pieces of evidence the prosecution introduced during the trial were purely circumstantial and there was not a single piece of evidence that proved DeLeon knew of her husband’s plans to murder Tom and Jackie Hawks — there was no smoking gun, they claimed. Until the closing statements, that is. During the prosecution’s rebuttal of the defense’s final argument, the lead prosecutor pointed out that if Skylar DeLeon had really told his wife that the $450,000 Well Deserved was a gift, he would never have let her get within 10 miles of the Hawkses for fear that she would thank them for such a generous gift. If that had happened, of course, Tom Skylar DeLeon John Kennedy would have known the whole deal was a scam and called the cops, a chance DeLeon, on a seven-year suspended sentence for a previous conviction, would never take. This argument convinced the jury of her involvement. Jennifer DeLeon will be sentenced on February 23 Myron Garner Alonso Machain and is quite probably looking at life in prison without Jennifer DeLeon, top, was found guilty of two counts the possibility of parole. of first-degree murder. The rest of this motley crew The other four defendants will stand trial next year for murder. in the case, Skylar DeLeon — who is also awaiting trial on entirely different murder charges, as well as charges of conspiracy to commit murder against his cousin and father — Alonso Machain, John Kennedy and Myron Garner will be tried as early as next month. We will continue to post updates on ‘Lectronic Latitude at www.latitude38.com. — ld
GUILTY
the birth of fredriksland Fredrik Fransson left San Francisco’s Brisbane Marina for Brisbane, Australia, in May aboard his CBN 36 Maiken. The 34-year-old Swede came to the States after having served aboard the schooner Tree of Life for several years, including three years as first mate. He knew he would sail again so he worked hard as a UPS driver in downtown San Francisco — you know he has chutzpah if he could do that job for seven years — and saved his pennies to buy Maiken. Fredrik’s uncle, Håkan Larsson, a doctor from Sweden, joined him for the trip which included some memorable stops in the Marquesas, Tahiti and Bora Bora before they ran into — literally — the most memorable ‘stop’ of their lives. The pair left the Vava’u group of continued on outside column of next sightings page Page 106 •
Latitude 38
• December, 2006
boat If fire isn’t every boater’s biggest fear, it probably should be. Most materials used in boat construction are highly flammable and fire can spread quickly. Last year, the USCG reported nearly 200 boats caught fire, causing $10 million in damages. The photo below was taken by Rob and Mary Lynne Lackner around 4 p.m. on November 1. The Lackners were at San Diego’s Shelter Island Boatyard when the 50-ft ketch Katana, moored in America’s Cup Harbor, burst into flames. The fire quickly engulfed the boat’s aft cabin and