Billy Hawk, a bowling alley owner who was indicted in September for the 1981 slaying of Johnny Mack Salyer, appears with attorneys before Judge Don Poole in this file photo.Jurors heard opening statements today in the trial of Billy Hawk, a 62-year-old man accused of a 35-year-old murder.
After being empaneled Tuesday and making arrangements at home and work, jurors returned to Hamilton County Criminal Court this morning. For the duration of the first-degree murder trial – expected to last a week – they will be staying in a hotel with limited communication to family and friends.
During his opening, prosecutor Lance Pope recounted June 2, 1981, when a couple found a 55-gallon steel drum floating on Lake Chickamauga. The next day they called authorities, who pulled a decomposing body out of the barrel. It was Johnny Mack Salyer, Pope said, a drug dealer who faced cocaine distribution charges with Hawk.
Nearly two weeks earlier, Salyer had traveled to Indiana to see his estranged wife and child, Pope said. He was murdered when he returned. And afterwards, “Hawk benefitted in his criminal cases,” Pope said.
If he is convicted of this crime, Hawk faces life in prison.