Defense attorneys seek key evidence in grisly 35-year-old murder case

Billy Hawk
Billy Hawk

The defense attorneys in a 35-year-old Hamilton County murder case have honed in on two pieces of evidence both sides acknowledge to be missing as the case moves toward an April 5 trial date.

Attorneys Jimmy Logan and Bill Speek argued Monday in Hamilton County Criminal Court that locating the pieces could help exonerate their client, Billy Hawk.

Hawk is accused of killing Johnny Mack Salyer in 1981. Salyer's body was pulled from a steel drum in the Tennessee River days after his family last heard from him.

However, during their own research, the defense attorneys found two pieces of evidence missing that could be game-changers, they argued Monday. The two pieces of missing evidence are the steel drum and an original X-ray of Salyer's torso that could reveal if and where Salyer was shot.

The X-ray is a key piece, because a recent review of Salyer's body showed the presence of a bullet the original X-ray could confirm.

The defense's line of debate Monday was that the absences of those two items weakens the prosecution's case, which the defense attorneys say will largely rely on "hearsay" from 35 years ago they contest no longer will be reliable.

"The most unreliable testimony and evidence there is in a case is eyewitness testimony," Speek said. "Now we're dealing with eyewitness testimony that's 35 years old. What myself and Mr. Logan are looking for is the actual forensic proof. We're looking for the barrel. We're looking for the X-rays, things that don't change over time."

Hawk, who is being held at the Hamilton County Jail on $500,000 bond, appeared in the courtroom for the first time since he was arraigned on a first-degree murder charge brought against him in September 2015. The charge followed hundreds of hours of work by the district attorney's cold case team.

Now 61 and graying, a handcuffed Hawk wore a red jumpsuit, orange sandals and glasses as he sat silently while Prosecutor Neal Pinkston, Judge Don Poole and his attorneys ironed out the next steps of the case.

He will appear before Poole again on Feb. 22 once the district attorney's office finishes providing its evidence in the case.

Pinkston argued in court the absence of the X-ray in question and the steel drum will have to be explained by the medical examiner's office and the sheriff's office, respectively.

State rules prevent Pinkston from commenting publicly on the case outside of the courtroom before it goes to trial, district attorney spokeswoman Melydia Clewell said.

Hawk and Salyer were co-defendants in a pending cocaine distribution case when Salyer disappeared in 1981.

State investigators arrested Hawk in Greene County, Tenn., in September and he was indicted on the murder charge by a Hamilton County Grand Jury.

Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.

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