Judge Leave’s Billy Hawk’s Bond at $500K
The announcement was made Tuesday and the suspect made his first court appearance this morning.
Billy Hawk’s attorney believes it will be a hard case to prove—and to defend.
Judge Don Poole moved swiftly to dispense of the arraignment of 61 year old Billy Hawk.
He set Hawk’s next court appearance for November 3rd.
Poole left his bond at half a million dollars. His attorney didn’t think that was necessary.
JIM LOGAN, BILLY HAWK’S ATTORNEY " You ask my perspective, I think that Billy Hawk has nowhere to go…wouldn’t go anywhere, and he stands ready to respond to these charges."
Hawk owns a bowling alley in Lebanon, Tennessee but lives in Chattanooga.
He is charged with the 1981 murder of 27 year old Johnny Mack Salyer, whose body was found in a barrel in the Tennessee river.
Hawk was a primary suspect in the death back then.
In this case, since the incident occurred 34 years ago, defense attorney Jim Logan says it presents a unique challenge.
JIM LOGAN "I’m going to be working diligently to begin to try to understand the state’s foundational basis for these allegations . Mr. Hawk is not guilty of the charges made in this indictment."
Logan says he suspects that many of the witnesses who would be called to testify in Hawk’s case, may be impossible to find, or even dead.
This was the fourth cold case arrest since the special unit was formed by District Attorney General Neal Pinkston earlier this year. Retired city detective Mike Mathis told us when it was formed that there’s a reason its been successful.
MIKE MATHIS, DIR., THE COLD CASE UNIT "That’s the whole point of having a dedicated unit out of this office..that can devote the resources, whereas the police department or the sheriff’s department or some of these
other local afgencies don’t have the resources."
D.A. NEAL PINKSTON "If you don’t give up..and keep looking….you’re bound to fund interesting things….and I think with hard work …it shows we don’t give up..so that’s really important."
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