OCOEE, Fla. — A 20-year-old on trial for murdering a homeless man told his father he was the one who was beaten up. John Hawthorne's father testified on his son's behalf. Hawthorne is accused of killing Joel Boner last July.
In court Thursday, pathologists told jurors the evidence they reviewed could be consistent with Hawthorne's claims of self defense.
John Hawthorne may not have known 30-year-old Joel Boner was fatally wounded when Hawthorne and his friend got on an ATV and drove away from the injured man's Ocoee campsite on July 22, 2009. That's according to an expert witness who testified for the defense Thursday.
Hawthorne and Boner got into a scuffle in the woods and Hawthorne admitted pulling a knife, but in self-defense. However, Assistant State Attorney Ken Lewis says it was murder.
Thursday morning it was the defense's turn to call its witnesses. The first was the defendant's cousin, who told the court his family had been dealing with trespassers on their land before and up to the stabbing death of Joel Boner.
"Did you ever authorize John Hawthorne or Claude Hawthorne to use violence against anyone on your land?" an attorney asked.
"No," witness and cousin, Charles Hawthorne replied.
John Hawthorne's cousin did ask his relatives to tell trespassers to move on, which is what the defense claimed happened last summer when Hawthorne saw Joel Boner camped out on his cousin's property.
Hawthorne's friend and former housemate confirmed that part of the defendant's story. Cameron Milner added his friend slashed the campers clothesline and tent with his pocket knife, and when Joel Boner walked away, Milner says the defendant followed him.
Milner never saw who threw the first punch. When it was over, the 30-year-old camper was bloody. Hawthorne called his father, Claude Hawthorne, after the fight.
"He said, ‘I got beat up pretty good,'" Claude Hawthorne said in court.
Jurors saw pictures of Hawthorne's injuries after that fight; images the defense hopes support its claim of self-defense.
Defense expert witnesses also described 10 of the victim's 11 stab wounds as superficial. They added if the fatal blow had been intentional, they would have expected to see more bruising at the site of the wound.