District Attorney Neal Pinkston checks a document while questioning a witness on the 2nd day of the murder trial of Billy Hawk in Judge Don Poole's courtroom in Hamilton County Criminal Court on Wednesday, June 1, 2016, in Chattanooga. A grand jury indicted Hawk, 62, in September for first-degree murder in the 1981 slaying of Johnny Mack Salyer.Defense lawyers pushed back this morning in the murder trial of Billy Hawk, asking investigators why they didn't aggressively pursue other leads in the 1981 slaying of Johnny Mack Salyer.
"So," began attorney Jonathan Turner, one of three men representing Hawk, "you've got no evidence that puts the two of them together, you've got no evidence that Hawk purchased a barrel, you've got no evidence that he purchased a torch to put holes in the barrel."
As the courtroom watched, Turner continued to cross examine Larry Sneed, a former detective with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.
"You do have evidence that he owed someone thousands of dollars," Turner said. "You do have evidence that Mr. Salyer is heavily involved in drug trafficking...You also have information that one of the people he owed money to was the West Cartel."
He asked if Sneed ever spoke to a cartel member whose name popped up during the investigation.
"I probably did not," Sneed said.
"Even though you knew he owed thousands of dollars to him and his criminal cartel?" Turner asked.
The man was never located, Sneed said.
"Still," Turner said, "to this day you never spoke to him, never checked to see if he had a bunch of barrels ready to go.never asked him about his motive."
"No," Sneed replied.
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Witness, defense attorneys point to different suspect in Hawk trial
Since September 2015, when Hawk was indicted on first-degree murder charges, prosecutors have said a couple living off Rocky Point Road saw a barrel floating near their dock on Chickamauga Lake on June 2, 1981. Inside, authorities found Salyer, decomposing and clad only in underwear. Although Hawk was one of the state's main suspects, several uncooperative witnesses crumbled the case, prosecutors have said.
As Mike Mathis, an investigator with the district attorney's cold case unit, said today, authorities looked into Hawk in 1981 and 1982, in the mid-to-late 80s, and again in 2000.
They were unable to arrest him until fall 2015, following a pair of crucial interviews with Hawk's former lovers. Both have testified in the trial.
One said Hawk dropped a rusty barrel into a lake days before Salyer's body emerged in the 55-gallon steel drum. Another said Hawk forced her down at gunpoint in her apartment and admitted that he and another friend tricked Salyer into the woods then killed him.
Prosecutors plan to call three more witnesses, District Attorney General Neal Pinkston said Thursday evening. So far today, prosecutors have cross examined two of them.
The third, former Chattanooga police detective Terry Slaughter, was called to the stand - but Judge Don Poole dismissed jurors around 12:30 p.m. to give Slaughter time to listen to a recorded conversation that defense attorneys will be using.
The defense contends Slaughter, who served time in federal prison, reached out to the Federal Bureau of Information with tips about several corrupt people in Chattanooga, including district attorneys and Hawk. They say he agreed to wear a wire in 1986 during a meeting with Hawk.
"Like I said, 'I can't remember if I went to the bowling alley and talked to Billy or if we talked over the phone," Slaughter said. "But it seems like we met face-to-face at the bowling alley.
"But for me to tell you for sure," he said, trailing off.
Bill Speek, another one of Hawk's attorneys, pounced on his recollection.
"You wouldn't remember that?" Speek asked of the wiretap.
"It was 30 years ago," Slaughter said.
"Wearing a wire for the FBI to record your friend but you can't remember that?"
"No," Slaughter said.
"But you can remember a statement he made earlier?" Speek asked.
"Yes, sir."
Slaughter's testimony will continue when jurors return around 2 p.m.