Killer’s mother tells of abuse
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It’s as if Skylar Deleon’s childhood were separated into two very different worlds.
In one world, when he lived with his father, John Jacobson Sr., relatives testified Deleon was constantly beaten without provocation and was told he was worthless.
Held up to an impossible standard, Deleon consistently fell short in the most trivial of ways, such as not properly tucking in his shirt, and he would pay dearly for it.
In the other world, away from Jacobson, who was in prison for a few years, family testified that Deleon was loved. He was shown right from wrong, laughed and was polite.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys for the 29-year-old Long Beach man continued to present their black-and-white images of Deleon’s childhood Tuesday in Santa Ana’s Central Justice Center, each side hoping their version of his childhood will be at the forefront of jurors’ minds when they weigh whether to sentence him to death.
Deleon was convicted Oct. 20 of killing Newport Beach couple Tom and Jackie Hawks in 2004 by tying them to an anchor aboard their boat, Well Deserved, and throwing them overboard when they were still alive. Their bodies were never found.
He was also convicted of the 2003 slaying of John Jarvi, whom he robbed of $50,000 before slashing his throat in the Mexican desert. The nature of the killings has prosecutors seeking the death penalty.
Deleon’s relatives testified Tuesday. Many of them still know him under his birth name, John Jacobson Jr., and still call him “Little Johnny.”
Lynette O’Daniel last saw her son, Skylar Deleon, about five years ago. It was on his wedding day.
Tuesday, O’Daniel saw that her son was skinnier, shoulders slumped over, and a convicted killer.
Defense attorney Gary Pohlson asked O’Daniel to fill out much of the previous day’s testimony, when other relatives first introduced the wide-range, violent abuse Deleon suffered at the hands of his drug-dealing father, including alleged, and unproven, molestation.
As a baby, the senior Jacobson would hit his son with a wooden spoon on the legs, butt, back and arms, breaking several of the spoons in the process, O’Daniel testified.
Many mornings, O’Daniel told jurors she would snort cocaine while making Deleon breakfast, and at night, participate in orgies and do drugs with friends in their home after putting her son to bed.
He was no older than 2 at the time.
Earlier witnesses testified that they had seen Jacobson shove toothpicks under his son’s nails if he was caught biting them.
It was an indescribably hard childhood for the first six years, jurors were told. But Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy pointed out that while it was bad for a while, it wasn’t always that way. From about 6 years old to 10 or 11, Deleon was surrounded by a caring, loving family.
Edward Fisher, Deleon’s stepdad for several years, remembered when Deleon first moved in with him and O’Daniel, who had left Jacobson some years earlier.
Jacobson was in prison at the time.
“He was on edge, a little jittery; he didn’t want to listen at first,” Fisher testified. “I explained things to him. How things were. He argued at first, but he came around.”
Fisher testified he never heard of any of the abuse other relatives have claimed through two days of testimony. He told jurors he never saw any of it first-hand. As far as he was concerned, as everyone else has testified thus far, Deleon understood right from wrong, despite the violent, drug- and sex-filled world he was exposed to through his father.
This was the second day of testimony, and it focused almost solely on Deleon’s childhood with little mention of his victims.
Murphy was able to slide in a quick shot however, when O’Daniel told jurors about how her son nearly drowned.
O’Daniel recounted how her son had rode his tricycle into the pool while she went inside for a brief moment, then had to pull him out and save him. It was a traumatic moment, she testified, but not one where she seriously thought her son would die.
“He wasn’t tied to an anchor?” Murphy asked. Pohlson quickly objected.
JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].
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