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State v. Hawn6/30/2000
Rendered on the 30 th day of June, 2000.
Stephen Hawn was found guilty by a jury of murder with a firearm specification. The Montgomery County Common Pleas Court sentenced Hawn, and he has now timely appealed to this court. The following is a summary of the evidence presented at trial.
State's Case
On the night of February 21, 1998, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call from Stephen Hawn, who reported that his girlfriend, Sue Jack, had just committed suicide. When police arrived at the residence that Hawn and Jack had shared they encountered Hawn in the hallway, clad only in a shirt and boxer shorts. Hawn had blood on his clothes and on his hands. Police entered the bedroom of the home and found the deceased, Sue Jack, lying on the floor at the foot of the bed with a gunshot wound to the chest. Some of the bed clothes were on the floor and some were draped over a desk across the room from the bed. Electronic remote controls, one broken, and pieces of a broken fan, were on the floor. On the bed was a telephone off its hook. A .44 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver was found near Ms. Jack's foot.
When officers on the scene talked with Hawn he first indicated that he had discovered Sue Jack's body when he arrived home. He then changed his story, stating that he was in bed watching television when Ms. Jack took the gun from the nightstand and shot herself in the chest. When Hawn heard the shot go off he jumped out of bed, ran over to Ms. Jack and held her before calling police.
An autopsy of Sue Jack's body revealed that the cause of her death was a gunshot wound to the chest. The autopsy did not reveal any gun powder residue on Ms. Jack's clothing or skin near the entrance wound or inside the wound track itself, which would be indicative of a close range or contact shot. Ms. Jack's death was ruled a homicide. Based upon his test firings of the weapon and his examination of Sue Jack's clothing, firearms expert Chris Monturo opined that the gun was more than five feet away when it was fired into Ms. Jack's chest.
The nearly two year relationship between Sue Jack and Stephen Hawn had been on-again, off-again, characterized by periods of dating or living together followed by periods of separation. On the day of her death Sue Jack had been happy and laughing, and was planning in the future to buy a condominium, have her vision corrected via laser surgery, and to support her sister's fight against breast cancer.
Hawn's Case
Stephen Hawn and Sue Jack had dinner at the Old Hickory restaurant on North Main Street on the night of the shooting. They were there from 6:30 p.m. until 10:30 p.m., and discussed their future wedding plans during dinner. The evening was going very well and Ms. Jack and Hawn were happy and having a good time until one of Hawn's friends made a comment about Hawn's former girlfriend, Bethany. That caused Sue Jack's mood to darken, and she and Hawn did not speak on the twenty-five minute drive home.
Upon arriving home Hawn undressed, got into bed, and began watching television. The remote controls were lying on top of the bedcover. When Sue Jack came out of the bathroom she walked over to Hawn and slapped him, saying she never wanted to hear the name "Bethany" again. Sue Jack then struck a small plastic fan that was sitting on the floor, knocking it across the room.
Ms. Jack next took Hawn's .44 caliber revolver from the nightstand and walked to the foot of the bed. Hawn had begun to roll over to get out of bed when a shot went off. Hawn threw the covers aside and ran over to Ms. Jack holding her briefly before calling 911 for help. Sue Jack d
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