Dempsey Hawkins paroled & deported

[Hops3098]

You might remember one of the cases featured in the Dorothy Allison psychic segment was of Susan Jacobson. Dorothy helped the Jacobsons find the location where the body of their daughter was eventually found. Her boyfriend, Dempsey Hawkins was convicted of her murder

I've tried off and on to find the location online and never had too much luck, as apparently the location name given on the UM segment (Down Back) is more of a nickname than a proper name.

Anyway, I stumbled upon this article from just a few days ago.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf...iend_paro.html

Just in case the link is temporary, here is the text of the article.


STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Now, 57, a former Port Richmond resident who spent nearly four decades in prison for murdering his 14-year-old girlfriend 41 years ago, has been given a chance to try to start a new life again - in another country.

Dempsey Hawkins, who strangled Susan Jacobson to death on May 15, 1976, dumped her body into a barrel and then lied to authorities and the victim's family about the crime, has been deported to his native England. Hawkins was 16 on the crime date.

"We knew it was happening," Travis resident William Jacobson, the victim's father, said Monday in a telephone interview. "I wouldn't use the word 'happy,' (but) I think the family is thankful that he's been deported. Better him out of the country than in the country. He's never coming back. It's basically, the end of the story."

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Yet even so, Jacobson admitted, the terrible pain, the searing grief and the heart-rending memories won't ever fade more than 40 years later, regardless of where Hawkins is.

"It's never over. It never will be. He's still breathing air, and she never will be," Jacobson, 78, said.

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He added, as a parent, he "feels sorry" for Hawkins' mother.

According to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision's web site, Hawkins was released Jan. 23 on parole into the custody of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He was then flown to London, England, said an ICE spokesman.

Once in London, Hawkins was picked up by a cousin he had never met and is being aided by an agency that helps support convicts deported to England, said a published report in the New York Times.

Hawkins had been serving a sentence of 22 years to life.

Starting in 2000, he became eligible to apply for parole, but was denied then and for every two years afterward.

His fortunes changed in August of last year.

In a split decision of sorts, a state parole board denied Hawkins parole in the United States, but said he could be conditionally paroled if he shipped back to England by July 2018.

In its ruling, parole commissioners cited Hawkins' good disciplinary record and the "numerous rehabilitative achievements," including a college-level education, he attained while behind bars.

But commissioners also found "troubling" Hawkins' "denial and deletion of, or failure to recall certain facts" about the crime during an interview then.

"In short, you still seem capable of deception regarding criminal thoughts and behavior. We find your deceit and actions in support of your deception to be aggravating factors," the board wrote.

"Your actions exhibit a cruel deliberation and contempt that prompt us to find that your release in the United States would deprecate the seriousness of the crime as to undermine respect for the law," said the board.

Still, commissioners said Hawkins had remained behind bars nearly 16 years beyond his minimum 22-year sentence and granted him conditional parole for deportation only.

Hawkins cannot contact the victim's family and can't financially profit by telling his story.

In a brief interview in April of last year, Janice Blanchard, a sister of the victim, said Hawkins had shown no remorse for the crime.

"Everyone deserves a second chance at life, but not when you don't own up to your mistakes,'' she said then, after a state appellate court ordered the parole board to consider Hawkins' age at the time of the murder.

In ordering a new hearing on the parole board's 2014 denial, the appellate court said the Eighth Amendment requires a juvenile offender's youth and "its attendant characteristics," be weighed by parole commissioners.

Commissioners must consider whether the crime reflects, "transient immaturity."

Prosecutors said Hawkins killed Jacobson during a quarrel in which she sought to end their relationship. Hawkins then hid her body in a 55-gallon oil barrel inside an underground bunker at the former Downey's Shipyard in Mariners Harbor.

Jacobson's grieving family, whom Hawkins pretended to aid, searched relentlessly for her body for months. They even sought a nationally-known psychic's help.

But her decomposed corpse wasn't recovered for nearly two years -- and then, by chance. Three boys came across the victim's skeletal remains on March 25, 1978, as they were exploring in the area.

A Feb. 21, 1979, Advance story described the site as a "bleak, desolate area," off Richmond Terrace, between Holland and Western avenues, near the former Procter & Gamble Co. plant.

Neighborhood residents referred to the area as "Down-back."

Afterward, Hawkins was arrested in Joppa, Ill. He had gone there in April 1977, to live with his father, Advance records show.

Prosecutors' star witness during the trial was Hawkins' cousin, Willie (Puckie) Hawkins.

Willie Hawkins testified that his cousin, Dempsey, admitted to choking Ms. Jacobson to death with a shirt.

At a re-hearing in June of last year, in which the parole board reaffirmed its 2014 denial, Hawkins expressed regret for his actions and vowed to lead a crime-free life if released, according to a transcript.

"I am remorseful for the crime," he said. "I am deeply, I'm terribly sorry. I wish I had never committed that crime . . . I will never in my life commit another crime. I will never harm another human being, and I mean that."

Despite the denial, Hawkins was eligible in July for another hearing for the year 2016. Inmates serving indeterminate sentences can apply for parole every two years.