Monday morning's pretrial for Dave Hawk, the Lemoore man accused of murdering his ex-wife, lasted only a matter of minutes, as Hawk's defense attorney Mark Coleman was unable to appear on the defendant's behalf, forcing the case to be postponed until Sept. 29.

Attorney Greg Fox, appearing on Coleman's behalf, asked Judge Peter M. Schultz to continue the case until Oct. 3 when information about a motion of discovery could be heard.

While appearing initially hesitant and repeatedly asking why Coleman could not make a court date that he himself scheduled, Schultz granted the continuation to next Monday morning.

This continuation will also cause Friday's scheduled hearing to be vacated until a later date. Prosecutors intended to discuss the possibility of consolidating the different cases pending against Hawk into one during Friday's hearing. Fox said during proceedings that the defense filed a notice of opposition to the consolidation effort, though the matter still has not been discussed in open court.

The Sept. 29 date was agreed upon after Assistant District Attorney Larry Crouch requested that the case reconvene in court sometime before the Oct. 3 date originally asked for by the defense. Hawk will already be appearing on Oct. 3 for trial confirmation, as well as to discuss be possibility of having the case tried somewhere outside of Kings County.

Hawk was arrested in May and charged with first degree murder and a special circumstance of murder for financial gain in relation to the 2006 disappearance and presumed-homicide of his ex-wife, Debbie.

He is also facing additional charges for the alleged theft and embezzlement of $300,000 from his children's trust fund and a battery charge for shoving a Sentinel photographer in August 2007.

Monday's proceedings will begin at 8:15 a.m.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2425.

(Sept. 23, 2008)