This is William Hawley’s first breath of free air in over 18 years. Even through a face mask, to him freedom tastes deliriously sweet and wonderful beyond words even for an author with his talent for writing books. I’m Bill’s close friend, publicist and talent agent. Besides my blog, I write books too. My 5th WORDSHINE MAN comes out this spring.
Bill’s first night in Indiana was spent in a Hilton Hotel after a full day of shooting for a TV Series he’ll be starring in, the title of which and the network it will be on, I’m not at liberty to say right now, as his persevering law firm, The Ticktin Law Group, is fine tuning his network contract.
“I kept feeling last night police were going to break into my hotel room and arrest me,” Bill told me over the phone yesterday.
He said he couldn’t get over how comfortable his bed was compared to the one in his prison cell or how incredibly wide the television screen was in his unbelievably comfortable and spacious hotel room.
My PR firm, TransMedia Group, had started a GoFundMe for Bill titled “Help Rebuild a Life,” but now that he’s working we took it down, replacing it with a website we built for Bill at williamhawleyreleasefund.com.
When he writes books like his “Sex and the Serial Killer: My bizarre Times with Robert Durst,” Hawley goes by the pseudonym William Steel. This book is destined to become a best seller now that he’s free to do the media interviews we were unable to promote the book properly since cameras weren’t allowed in his prison. This caused us to have to cancel interviews with Dateline NBC and other media who find Bill’s adventures with Durst intriguing, especially now as Durst is scheduled to go on trial this month in California.
I gave his book the subtitle DURSTURBED.
After serving the draconian 18-year prison term for a non-violent offense, Bill has evolved into kind-hearted, well-intentioned man who deeply regrets his past criminal actions, basically involving stealing expensive jewelry. Hawley’s prison sentence was doubled to 18+ years after he walked off a minimum custody work detail, a mistake he deeply regrets.
During his time behind bars, Hawley became a devout Christian and an author who is passionate about promoting prison reform. In one case, Hawley testified at a federal evidentiary hearing in Miami against corrupt, racist detectives who had beaten a false murder confession out of Tim Brown, a mentally-challenged, African-American sixteen-year-old, resulting in a life sentence. Partly as a result of Hawley’s testimony, Tim was freed.
In another case in Palm Beach County, Hawley testified for the defense, exposing a nefarious plot in the murder trial of Roy Thompson, who was being framed and allegedly had been browbeaten by investigators into making a false confession.
Hawley is a passionate advocate for prison reform and desires to assist other non-violent offenders to earn an honest living, which thank God, he is already doing!
