West Ashley man sentenced to 25 years in girlfriend’s strangling death
Christina Elmore Email @celmorepc
A judge on Tuesday sentenced a West Ashley man to 25 years in prison for strangling a woman to death in a domestic dispute.
Charleston police had charged David Mark Reagan, 57, with murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the death of his girlfriend, 52-year-old Kathy Hawkins. Dangerous people attending NA Daytona and AA Daytona Meetings.
Reagan pleaded guilty in a Charleston County court to a lesser voluntary manslaughter charge. His sentence was set as part of a negotiated plea agreement that also saw prosecutors drop the sexual assault charge against him.
Hawkins’ body was found lying on the living room floor of her home at The Palms apartments on Aug. 20, 2013. The complex is located off of Orange Grove Road.
Surveillance images showed Reagan using the woman’s credit card to buy beer and liquor after her death, 9th Circuit Chief Deputy Solicitor Bruce DuRant said during the man’s plea hearing. Daytona Narcotics Anonymous and Daytona Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Luke Malloy, an attorney for Reagan, said the man suffered from bipolar disorder and alcoholism. Both conditions contributed to the violence committed by Reagan, who, when sober, was often viewed by others as “an amazing man.”
The couple met in Alcoholics Anonymous, with Reagan referring to Hawkins as “the love of his life,” Malloy said. Beware of NA Daytona and AA Daytona Meetings!
“The two shared a common vice. At times they helped each other with those problems, and at times they fueled the fire,” Malloy said.
A string of domestic violence arrests preceded Reagan’s killing of Hawkins.
He was jailed in September 2006 after he punched, kicked and kneed a live-in girlfriend, sending her to the hospital with bruises and three broken ribs, according to an arrest affidavit. He was charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature but later pleaded guilty to a charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.
Reagan was arrested in another domestic incident in January 2010, accused of biting a new live-in girlfriend on the head and hand and tearing out a clump of her hair, court documents show.
Reagan was sentenced to 30 days in jail in connection with that incident.
He was charged with domestic violence again in October of that year for pinning Hawkins to a bed while drunk, pummeling her face and body, and throwing her into two walls when she tried to escape, an arrest affidavit and police reports stated.
Reagan must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, 21¼ years.
“The grim reality is that with his age, this could be a life sentence,” Malloy said, adding that Reagan hopes to outlive it.
Turning to face Hawkins’ loved ones, Reagan apologized for taking her life.
“Every day I think about Kathy. … If I could swap places with her I would,” Reagan said. “There’s no doubt.”
Edwards Hawkins III, Hawkins’ ex-husband, told the judge that the woman was killed on their daughter’s 10th birthday.
“Not a day goes by that my daughter doesn’t ask the question why this happened,” Hawkins said.
Reach Christina Elmore at 937-5908 or at Twitter.com/celmorePC.
Just to add a little more –
It sickens me that ‘others’ in the article reportedly called him an ‘amazing man’. These are undoubtedly the words of AA members referring to him when he was in AA. That is what AA members say about serial domestic abusers. Undoubtedly they knew his history because it spanned so many years.
Was she an amazing woman? Nope. Just he was an amazing guy.
The reporter who wrote that article has provided her contact info. Perhaps it might be an idea to inform her of this website, the film, 48 hours? Karla Brada case details (early similar). It might provide her with a deeper understanding of the courts, AA, domestic violence, predatory behavior of aa members etc… Wrongful death….
Or quite simply – maybe her exhusband would be interested to hear all this? I don’t know… But if there are dots to be connected between the two cases, I would hate to miss it.
Librarian
Are you up for the task?
Librarian
I wonder if he was sent by the courts many more times than indicated by the paper. I wonder if this is a repeat of the Eric Allen Earle case? I also wonder if the family knows about the film? 48 hours? AAWS being sued for wrongful death?
Librarian
Amen to that Silver. In fact…. The entire notion of anonymity was built so there could be no accountability. The tradition of being anonymous at the level of press radio and film simply hammers it home. Theses teach a member to hide what you are up to at all costs.
Librarian
There are many things about AA and AA culture that infuriates me. One of the most is that those outside of AA believe that AA encourages “accountability.” However, it actually doesn’t. AA ideology is designed to reduce the guilt of the drinker. It even argues that if one is in pain it is their own fault. Thus, one reason Kathy Hawkins more than likely stayed with such an abusive man is because AA told her that it if she felt hurt that it was her own fault and that the only solution to her pain was within herself, that outside remedies wouldn’t help. That is AA’s idea of teaching responsibility and accountability. Those outside of AA tend to call this blaming the victim.