Opinion ID: 1058635
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts & proceedings involving lewis' guilty plea

Text: Before the circuit court accepted Lewis' guilty pleas, the court considered a competency assessment of Lewis prepared by Barbara G. Haskins, M.D., a board-certified forensic psychiatrist. Dr. Haskins opined that Lewis had the capacity to enter pleas of guilty to charges of capital murder for hire and had the ability to understand and appreciate the possible penalties that might result from those pleas. Haskins stated in her written competency assessment to the circuit court: Ms. Lewis is aware of her charges and the possible penalties she is facing (life without parole or death). She knows who her attorneys are and feels comfortable working with them. She is able to provide them with information, and to ask questions. Cognitive testing showed a Full Scale IQ of 72. Verbal IQ was 70, and Performance IQ was 79 . . . She is aware of the possibility of entering evidence for mitigation, should she be convicted. She is able to help develop such evidence. Dr. Haskins concluded that Lewis was competent to stand trial and to enter pleas to the pending charges. [3] After considering this report and upon Lewis' pleas of guilty to the seven charges, the circuit court questioned Lewis and determined that her guilty pleas were made freely, voluntarily, and intelligently. The circuit court accepted the Commonwealth's written summary of evidence that the Commonwealth would have presented had the case proceeded to trial. We will recite the relevant facts surrounding the offenses as described in our opinion in Lewis. Julian Clifton Lewis, Jr., (Julian) was employed for several years by Dan River, Inc. (Dan River). In 2000, Julian met Lewis, who also was employed by Dan River. Lewis began to live with Julian at his home in Danville, and they later married. In December 2001, Julian's older son, Jason Clifton Lewis, died in a car accident. Julian was the beneficiary of his son's life insurance policy, from which Julian received proceeds in excess of $200,000. He placed those proceeds in a draft account with Prudential Securities, Inc. The sums deposited in the account were accessible only by use of drafts bearing Julian's signature. In February 2002, Julian purchased a five-acre parcel of land in Pittsylvania County. He also purchased a mobile home and placed it on the property, where he and Lewis resided. In August 2002, Julian Lewis' younger son, Charles J. Lewis (C.J.), a member of the United States Army Reserve, was summoned for active duty. According to Lieutenant Michael Booker, C.J.'s commanding officer, C.J. made arrangements for the disposition of his estate in the event that he died while on active duty. C.J. executed a will, which identified his father as his primary beneficiary and his stepmother, Lewis, as the secondary beneficiary. C.J. obtained a life insurance policy in the amount of $250,000 payable in the event of his death. He designated his father as the primary beneficiary of the life insurance policy and Lewis as the secondary beneficiary. In the autumn of 2002, Lewis met Rodney L. Fuller and Matthew J. Shallenberger at a retail store. Before this meeting, Lewis did not know these men. After engaging in a conversation, Shallenberger and Lewis exchanged telephone numbers and began to communicate frequently. They discussed a plan in which Shallenberger, with Fuller's help, would kill Julian and receive a share of insurance proceeds Lewis might obtain. On one occasion, Lewis and her 16-year-old daughter, Christie Bean (Christie), met Shallenberger and Fuller at a parking lot in Danville. Christie, who had never met Fuller, had sexual intercourse with him in one car while Lewis and Shallenberger engaged in sexual intercourse in another vehicle. On a later date, Fuller and Shallenberger went to Lewis' home where she performed a lingerie show for the men, and she had sexual intercourse with both men. On October 23, 2002, Lewis met Shallenberger and Fuller at a shopping center in Danville. Lewis gave the men $1,200 in cash to purchase firearms and ammunition to kill Julian. Antwain D. Bennett, an acquaintance of Shallenberger, used the money to purchase three firearms and ammunition for the weapons. Two of the firearms were shotguns. On that same date, Lewis related to Shallenberger and Fuller the route that Julian traveled from his place of employment to his home. The men planned to kill Julian and make the murder . . . look like a robbery. While Lewis remained at her home, the men were to follow and stop Julian Lewis on the highway and kill him. The plan, however, was unsuccessful. As a result, Lewis, Shallenberger, and Fuller decided to kill Julian at his home on October 30, 2002. They also decided to kill his son, C.J., when he returned to Virginia to attend his father's funeral, and to share the proceeds from C.J.'s life insurance policy. However, when the conspirators learned that C.J. would be with his father at the mobile home on October 30, 2002, they decided to kill C.J. and his father at the same time. During the early morning hours of October 30, 2002, Shallenberger and Fuller drove a vehicle past Lewis' home about three times. The men did not stop their vehicle because they observed that lights were on in the home. Eventually, Shallenberger and Fuller entered the residence through a rear door that Lewis had unlocked. Each man carried one of the shotguns that had been purchased with the $1,200 cash provided by Lewis. Shallenberger and Fuller awakened Lewis, who was in bed with her husband. Shallenberger told Lewis, Teresa, get up. After Lewis left the bed and walked into the kitchen, she heard gunshots. Shallenberger shot Julian several times. Immediately afterward, Lewis went to the bedroom where her husband lay bleeding, retrieved Julian's pants and wallet, and returned to the kitchen with Shallenberger. Fuller entered a room that was occupied by C.J. After Fuller shot C.J. three times, Fuller went to the kitchen where he observed Lewis and Shallenberger pulling money from a wallet. Fuller told Lewis and Shallenberger that C.J. wouldn't die. Fuller obtained Shallenberger's shotgun and returned to the bedroom occupied by C.J., shooting him two more times. The men collected most of the shotgun shells, and they divided the $300 in currency that had been removed from Julian's wallet. After dividing the money with Fuller, Shallenberger told Lewis that he was sorry she had to go through something like this; hugged her and kissed her; and the men left. Lewis waited about 45 minutes after the last shot was fired, and then made a telephone call to her former mother-in-law, Marie Bean. Next, she made a telephone call to her close friend, Debbie Yeatts. On Wednesday morning, October 30, 2002, about 3:55 a.m., Lewis placed a telephone call to emergency response personnel in Pittsylvania County. She reported that an intruder had entered her home and had shot her husband and his adult son. Lewis stated that both men were dead. She said that she had been in bed with her husband when an intruder armed with a pistol entered the bedroom and said, Get up. Lewis further reported that her husband directed her to go into the bathroom. According to Lewis, her husband asked the intruder, What's going on? Lewis said that her husband was shot four or five times while she was in the bathroom. She reported that the shooting occurred at 3:15 or 3:30 a.m. Sheriff's deputies Harris Silverman and Corey Webb arrived at the murder scene about 4:18 a.m., 23 minutes after Lewis made the telephone call to the emergency response personnel. When the deputies met Lewis at the front door of her home, she informed them that her husband's body was on the floor in one bedroom and that her stepson's body was in another bedroom. As Deputy Webb entered the master bedroom, he observed that Julian was still alive. Julian made slow moans and uttered, [B]aby, baby, baby, baby. Deputy Webb asked the victim his name, and he responded, Julian. When Deputy Webb asked Julian if he knew who had shot him, the victim responded, My wife knows who done this to me. While the deputies tried to assist the victims, Deputy Webb observed Lewis conversing on the telephone, and he heard her state, I told C.J. about leaving that back door unlocked. When Deputy Webb informed Lewis that her husband had died, she did not appear upset. Investigator J.T. Barrett of the Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office arrived at the murder scene about 7:00 a.m. on October 30, 2002. When Barrett interviewed Lewis, she claimed that her husband had physically assaulted her a few days before his death, and she denied having knowledge about her husband's killer. She said that she would not have killed her husband or have had him killed. Investigator Barrett asked Lewis what she and her husband did before they went to bed on the night of the murders. She said that she talked with her husband, and that they prayed together. She stated that her husband went to sleep, and that she arose to prepare his lunch for the next day. After preparing the lunch, Lewis placed it in the refrigerator. She wrote a note on a lunch bag that stated, I love you. I hope you have a good day. A picture of a smiley face was drawn on the bag and inscribed in the smiley face was the message, I miss you when you're gone. Mike Campbell, Julian's supervisor, testified that Julian did not use lunch bags to bring his lunch to work. Instead, Julian took his lunch to work in a blue and white cooler. Investigator Keith N. Isom interviewed Lewis on November 7, 2002. During this interview, Lewis admitted that she had offered Shallenberger money to kill her husband. After this interview, Lewis again spoke with Investigator Isom. Lewis told Isom that she had met her husband's killer at a retail store and that he was from New York. Lewis stated that she let him in her mobile home, and that Shallenberger shot both Julian and C.J., took some money, and left the home. Lewis told Investigator Isom that she had agreed to give Shallenberger one-half the insurance proceeds she expected to receive, but that she changed her mind and decided to keep all the money. After Lewis provided Investigator Isom with Shallenberger's address, she and Isom went to Shallenberger's residence where Lewis identified him. On November 8, 2002, while incarcerated in the Danville City Jail, Lewis asked to speak with Investigator Isom. When Isom interviewed her at the jail, she informed him that Rodney Fuller also was involved in the murders of her husband and her stepson. In addition, Lewis acknowledged that after the shooting and after the men left the house [on the night of the murders], she had waited about thirty minutes to call 911. On the day of the murders, Lewis made a telephone call to Mike Campbell at Dan River. She informed Campbell that Julian had been killed, and stated that she wanted his paycheck. Campbell told Lewis that she could not retrieve the paycheck before 4:00 p.m. on that day. The next day, October 31, 2002, Lewis again called Campbell requesting Julian's paycheck. Campbell responded that he could not give the paycheck to her. Lieutenant Michael Booker, C.J.'s commanding officer, contacted Lewis by telephone to express his condolences during the afternoon of October 30, 2002, the day of the murders. Lewis told Booker, I'm still in shock. The police had me in Chatham today, all in my face. There is no way I would have killed my husband and stepson. They guessed that because I didn't get shot that I might have done it. My husband told me to go into the bathroom, so I did. Lewis informed Booker that she was the secondary beneficiary of the life insurance policy held by C.J., and that she wanted to collect the insurance proceeds. On November 4, 2002, Lewis placed a telephone call to Booker and left a message for him because he was not available. When Booker spoke with her later that day, Lewis inquired about C.J.'s personal effects. Booker advised Lewis that she could not have them because she was not the beneficiary of C.J.'s estate. Lewis asked Booker whether she was still entitled to the life insurance proceeds in the amount of $250,000. When Booker told Lewis that she was, Lewis responded, [W]ell, Kathy [C.J.'s sister] can have all his stuff as long as I get the money. Before the murders, Lewis stated to an acquaintance, Debbie Anderson, that she was just using Julian for money and that he would buy her things. Bobby Demont, who had known Julian and Lewis for several years, heard Lewis comment a couple months before the murders that if Julian died, she would get the money, and if [C.J.] was killed and Julian was dead, she would get that money, too. Lewis related to Kathy L. Clifton (Clifton), Julian's daughter, that Lewis waited until 45 minutes after the murders before contacting anyone. According to Lewis, she placed telephone calls to her ex-mother-in-law, Marie Bean, and to her friend, Debbie Yeatts, before she called 911 for help. After the murders, but before the funeral, Lewis had made a number of statements in Clifton's presence to the effect that Lewis had ample money to pay for the funerals. Clifton also heard Lewis state that she would benefit financially because of the deaths of Julian and C.J. Less than one week after the murders, Lewis attempted to withdraw $50,000 from Julian's account with Prudential Securities. Lewis appeared at a bank and presented a check, purportedly signed by Julian and made payable to her in the amount of $50,000. A bank employee refused to negotiate the check because the signature on the check did not match Julian's signature in the bank's records. Sheriff's deputies later searched the mobile home where Shallenberger and Fuller resided. Two shotguns were recovered from the residence and delivered to a forensic science laboratory for analysis. According to the laboratory analysis, the shotgun shells recovered from the room where Julian was murdered were fired by one of the shotguns seized from the mobile home where Shallenberger and Fuller lived. While searching the mobile home occupied by Shallenberger and Fuller, the deputies also found two pair of rubber gloves in a closet in Shallenberger's bedroom. The gloves later were determined to have a primer residue on them as a result of the discharge of a firearm bullet or shell. A medical examiner performed autopsies on the bodies of Julian and C.J. She determined that each man died as a direct result of multiple shotgun wounds and extensive blood loss. According to the medical examiner, C.J.'s injuries caused rapid death, while Julian survived for about one hour after he was shot. At the sentencing hearing, Lewis' counsel presented the following evidence. Eddie Rojas, Lewis' probation officer who began supervising Lewis in 2000 after she was convicted of forgery of a drug prescription, testified that Lewis had complied with the terms of her probation and that she had never demonstrated any type of violence. Bruce W. Hammock, Lewis' sister's fiancé and family friend for many years, also testified that he had never seen Lewis behave violently. Lewis' counsel also introduced a letter from an official at Lewis' place of imprisonment, which advised that Lewis had not received any adverse disciplinary reports during her five months of incarceration. Finally, Lewis' counsel told the circuit court that Lewis' father, brother, and sister were present and would testify that they love[d] [Lewis] and care about her, and they don't want her to die, but that the family members did not need to testify because the court's used to that kind of testimony. The circuit court found that Lewis' conduct was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible, or inhuman, and sentenced her to death for both capital murder for hire offenses. The circuit court stated that the defendant's sentences of death were based upon the statutory vileness predicate because her acts reflected a depravity of mind. The circuit court also concluded that Shallenberger and Fuller had committed aggravated batteries upon each victim, and that those aggravated batteries were imputed to Lewis.