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Maryann Acker


Inmate Name: Maryann Acker Charge: First Degree Murder, Robbery, Grand Theft Auto - California Robbery, Kidnapping, Murder - Hawaii Sentence: 7 Years to Life, 30 Years to Life Prison: California Institution for Women Maryann Acker was adopted by a devout Mormon family and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona until she was 14, when her family moved to Yuma, Arizona. When she graduated high school in 1977, she moved back to Phoenix to be with friends. It was there that she met William Acker who worked at a local hardware store. But William's good looks hid a mysterious past including spending time in jail. Shortly thereafter, the couple began living together, with Maryann unaware of the extent of William's criminal past. In June 1978, after William and Maryann were married, William suggested they go to Hawaii to visit relatives and have a belated honeymoon. When they arrived in Hawaii, William decided he wanted to move there permanently. Maryann claims that William then became very controlling. When they ran out of money, William forced her to become his decoy in robbing unsuspecting men who hung out at a local bar. Their first victim was robbed at gunpoint and left at the side of an embankment. Their second victim, Laurence Hasker, was robbed and shot twice at the side of the same embankment, and then left to die. Both Maryann and William would later claim the other actually pulled the trigger. The couple fled Hawaii and continued their crime spree in California where they allegedly killed a man named Cesario Arauza who had picked them up while they were hitchhiking. But this time, police picked up Maryann while she was driving Arauza's car. A few days later, William turned himself in. The two were tried separately and in 1979, in a trial heard only by a judge, Maryann was found guilty of first degree murder, robbery and grand theft auto. She was sentenced to seven years to life. In a separate trial, William, who did not contest the charges against him, was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery, and also sentenced to seven years to life. But two months after Maryann's prison term began, William told Los Angeles police about the murder of Laurence Hasker in Hawaii and pointed the finger at Maryann. In addition, William struck a plea agreement. The murder charges in Hawaii against him would be dropped in exchange for his testimony against Maryann. It took three years for the law to change in Hawaii so that William could testify against his wife. In May 1982, Maryann was found guilty of the robbery, kidnapping and murder of Hasker. She was sentenced to 30 years to life and is now serving concurrent life sentences. With the help of the USC Post Conviction Project, she is waiting to begin a new trial in Hawaii for the murder of Laurence Hasker. William Acker is still in prison.