Slaying victim's wife: Is it over?

Tammy Hardwick hopes the arrest of Harvey Leroy Jones Jr. brings peace, but Jones' family says he was arrested for self-defense.

By CHASE SQUIRES

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 17, 2000

ZEPHYRHILLS -- In the seven weeks since her husband of 21 years was beaten to death in his driveway, Tammy Hardwick said she has lived with sadness, suspicion and fear.

She hopes the Thursday arrest of 18-year-old Harvey Leroy Jones Jr. brings peace.

But Jones' family and a witness say it is Jones who was wronged, arrested for simply defending himself against an adult aggressor.

Tammy Hardwick's husband, Loy Lee Hardwick, 44, died April 27 at Tampa General Hospital, a day after he was struck with a metal pole in a brawl outside his Fifth Avenue home. Tammy Hardwick said her husband died trying to protect his family and his property from a gang of youths who were feuding with their son.

Jones' mother, Loretta Hampton, said Friday her son is a good, respectful teen who was fighting to protect his identical twin brother, who had been struck by Loy Lee Hardwick without provocation. A jury is to decide which side is right.

For Tammy Hardwick, dealing with her husband's death has been a strain, she said.

"You just don't expect something like this to happen. For someone to be killed in a wreck or at work, it might have been more acceptable, but for someone to come to your house and take his life. . . . We were robbed," she said.

Tammy Hardwick said she has been waiting anxiously for the arrest to come, fearing retribution, and eager to see the case come to a close. She admits she was impatient with Zephyrhills police, who turned their evidence over to prosecutors before a charge was brought, but she came to understand the importance of building a solid case with no room for error.

"They've been wonderful," she said of the police. "Everyone there has been so nice and understanding."

But Hampton said no one has been interested in hearing her son's side.

"(Loy Lee Hardwick) hit my son. What's my son supposed to do?" she asked. "This is an 18-year-old boy fighting with a 44-year-old man."

Hampton said her son wasn't even involved in the verbal exchange that led to the fight. She said her other son, Horace, who is Harvey Jones' twin, was first approached and struck. It's a version that one of Harvey Jones' friends, John Davis, 16, supports.

Davis said he was on the scene and saw Loy Lee Hardwick punch Horace Jones, and watched as the two struggled. Harvey Jones, returning from a trip to the store, saw the struggle and ran up and punched the older man in defense of his brother.

The fight then became one between Harvey Jones and Loy Lee Hardwick. It was the older man who produced a 5-foot-long metal weightlifting bar from his garage and struck Harvey Jones, Davis said.

The teen grabbed the bar from him, and swung back, striking him in the head, Davis said.

"I saw that old man's eyes roll back in his head and he just fell over like a tree," Davis said. "We ran. We just wanted to get out of there."

Tammy Hardwick said her family has been haunted by the events of April 26, and they have been intimidated by teens involved in the scuffle driving by their home ever since. She said she hopes Harvey Jones gets the maximum sentence, life in prison, for killing a man she contends was only protecting his family from a gang of teenagers picking a fight with his son.

"He was so special," she said. "He was just a guy with a big heart who wanted to be there for his family."

Hampton sees it differently.

"My son is not a violent person," she said. "That man went into his garage and got that weight bar and hit my son."

Harvey Jones made his first appearance in court Friday afternoon. He told Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb he didn't understand the charges against him.

Cobb said the only thing he could do was tell him he was charged with second-degree murder and appoint a public defender to represent him. The judge left the bail at $50,000.

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