Haywood man convicted of assaulting officers with a firearm
Steven Hawkins.
A still photo extracted from a deputy’s body-cam video shows a critical moment in the events of April 6, 2024, in front of a home near Lake Logan Road, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch told jury members this week.
In the photo the defendant, Steven Hawkins, 49, is pictured. He grips a double-barreled shotgun and directly faces law enforcement officers.
Look at his “aggressive stance,” the district attorney urged jurors, and observe how his eyes are locked on deputies in “a menacing and purposeful gaze.”
Depending on who you believe – and in the end, jurors believed prosecutors – here was a man intent on killing others or, as his defense attorney argued, someone who admittedly made some poor choices but who had no intentions of harming anyone.
Hawkins’ trial started Oct. 27 and wrapped up exactly one week later, on Monday, Nov. 3. He faced four counts of assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer, violating a domestic violence protection order while in possession of a deadly weapon and purchase of a firearm in violation of a domestic violence protection order.
Almost two months prior to the showdown with law enforcement, a district court judge had issued a domestic violence protective order at the request of his now ex-wife.
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The victim told the judge that Hawkins was sending her harassing and threatening messages. He had threatened to kill himself and their adult son.
The DVPO, as it’s known, didn’t just order the defendant to stay away from his ex-wife. It also said that for the coming year he could not possess firearms or ammunition.
Defense attorney Greg Newman stipulated without argument that Hawkins violated the DVPO and illegally possessed a firearm. He tried to only defend his client on the assault charges, involving deputies Jason West, Michael Smathers, Michael Buckner and Kendal Foster.
Despite the DVPO, just weeks before the confrontation, Hawkins started texting and leaving voicemails for his ex-wife.
“I’m coming to get you and the front door want (sic) stop me,” he wrote, later adding: “They will have to kill me to stop me … all the blood I spill from here to there is on you and not me ... I’m not afraid of the law, they can die just as easily as I can.”
On April 6, 2024, Hawkins made good on his threats, banging on his then father-in-law’s front door and demanding to see his ex-wife. She refused to come out. Her father demanded that Hawkins leave.
Hawkins shouted his ex-wife had 10 minutes to come out and talk to him.
She called 911.
Meanwhile, Hawkins returned to his tow truck and grabbed a Fox model 12-gauge shotgun from the truck’s bed. In addition to unspent shotgun shells found in the truck, Hawkins also had shotgun shells stuffed into his pant pockets. The shotgun itself was loaded.
Deputy David Cates was the first deputy to arrive. Cates saw Hawkins walk from his vehicle toward the residence, carrying the shotgun.
Cates told Hawkins to step away from the shotgun. Hawkins did put the shotgun down, but kept his hand on the weapon.
He told the deputy that the deputy would have to kill him. Hawkins threatened to shoot the deputy’s dog if turned loose. He also threatened to kill himself.
Deputy Cates holstered his pistol to, he said, “show him I did not want to shoot him.”
“After several attempts to get Mr. Hawkins away from the vehicle and him refusing,” Cates said, “he stated it was a beautiful day to die and this could be over in about five seconds. I stated he had things to live for and we did not want to harm him.”
Unable to persuade Hawkins to step away from the shotgun, deputies decided they would use a rifle, loaded not with shotgun shells but with beanbags. They hoped to knock down Hawkins and arrest him.
The first bean bag struck the suspect in the hip as he grabbed his shotgun and pointed it toward deputies, then turned to run away. Deputies testified they feared Hawkins would sprint farther up the mountain and gain higher ground on them. Possibly, they feared, he might fire into the home and hurt or kill his ex-wife and former father-in-law.
In the chaos, Deputy West tripped and fell to the ground. The other deputies testified that they thought he’d been shot.
As Hawkins ran, deputies turned from beanbags to regular ammunition. They fired and Hawkins fell, wounded. The deputies rendered first aid until an ambulance arrived.
The jury deliberated for about an hour before finding Hawkins guilty on all charges.
Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Roy Wijewickrama heard victim-impact statements.
At the district attorney’s request, he ordered Hawkins to serve an active sentence of 370 months up to a maximum of 501 months.
District Attorney Welch and Assistant District Attorney Jeff Jones prosecuted the case, which Welch described as being about “power and control.”
“This case shows we have zero tolerance for threats to law enforcement or violations of DVPOs,” she said. “We will prosecute, and we will send people to prison.”
