A Jacksonville man convicted of the 2014 slaying of real estate agent Beverly Carter had his complaint against a former prison guard dismissed by a jury after fewer than 45 minutes of deliberation Tuesday.
Arron Lewis, 40, accused former Department of Corrections Sgt. Hazel Robinson of hitting him with a closed fist in his dislocated shoulder while escorting him to sick call at the Varner Supermax Unit in Lincoln County on June 9, 2016. Lewis filed the lawsuit in 2018, naming former department Director Wendy Kelley and Capt. Mark Stephens in the lawsuit along with Robinson. Kelley and Stephens were dropped from the lawsuit earlier this month.
Lewis was convicted in January 2016 of the kidnapping and slaying of Carter and sentenced to two life terms after Carter's family asked prosecutors to spare Lewis from the death penalty. Lewis and his wife, Crystal Lowery, were both convicted in the case. Lowery was sentenced to 30 years for her part in the killing after testifying against her husband in his capital-murder trial.
Prosecutors said Carter was killed after Lewis, panicking after his ransom demand fell through, bound her mouth and nose with green duct tape and left her to suffocate, then buried her body at a Jacksonville concrete plant.
Neither the pool of 51 prospective jurors, nor the final eight jurors chosen in Tuesday's trial were told of the crime that put Lewis in prison, only that he was a state inmate. All 51 indicated during selection that they had no knowledge of Lewis or the reason he was imprisoned.
The one-day trial was punctuated by objections, shouting matches and finger-pointing between Vincent France and Michael Mosley, Robinson's attorneys from the office of Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Lewis, who represented himself, as they wrangled over disputed evidentiary points Lewis attempted to introduce during the trial, which lasted about 2½ hours after the jury of five men and three women were seated.
U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson, known for his folksy manner from the bench, invited the remaining members of the jury pool to stay to watch the trial.
"This is a public trial so anyone who wants to is free to stay and watch," he said. "The rest of you are free to go."
As the remainder of the jury pool rose and headed for the door, Wilson quipped, "I don't think any takers are staying."
Then, just as Wilson began reading the opening jury instructions, a fire alarm forced the evacuation of the five-story courthouse for 15 minutes as crews from two Little Rock Fire Department engines swept the building. After the all-clear signal, Wilson released the jurors for lunch.
Within seconds of Lewis' opening statement, France objected to Lewis' attempt to introduce a statement regarding a computerized voice-stress analysis Lewis said he requested but that was never introduced into evidence.
"We've already excluded the statements he's making and we're not even two minutes in," France objected.
Lewis argued that he was attempting to introduce the Corrections Department's use-of-force policy into his statement.
"The use of recording equipment is permitted ... ," Lewis began, before France cut him off again.
"Your honor," France began as Lewis attempted to talk over him before being cut off by Wilson.
"The objection is sustained," Wilson said. "You can't talk about recording equipment."
At that, Lewis, with a pained expression, sighed audibly and sat for a few seconds, seeming to gather his thoughts.
"They said I could," he said, finally. "I don't understand. They agreed that I could."
"Your honor, I did not agree," Mosley interrupted. "I did not say he could get into something the court has excluded as irrelevant."
"You did," Lewis insisted.
"I did not," Mosley shouted.
"You did," Lewis said again. "You're lying."
"Go ahead," Wilson said, calling for order, "but don't refer to that."
"He specifically said three times I could do it," Lewis said, insistently.
"Well, don't refer to that," Wilson replied.
As Lewis continued, he told the jury that France and Mosley would try to convince them that the incident described in the complaint never took place.
"They'll ask you to believe the two witnesses over me because an inmate has no credibility," he said. "In fact, if there had been a thorough investigation we wouldn't be here today for a trial, we'd only be here to determine relief."
At that, Lewis told the jury his monetary demand would be minimal.
"I don't want you to think I'm trying to hustle the system," he said. "If you find in my favor I only want you to award me one dollar. That's it. I don't want you think I'm trying to get this huge sum, trying to live a lavish life. I only want one dollar."
Lewis told jurors that he had worked for five years to get the case to trial, suggesting that those efforts should lend credibility to his claim. He said at the time of the incident that he was involved in a "very high publicity trial" with a lot of animosity directed toward him within the prison system.
Although France attempted to object, Mosley waved his colleague to sit down.
"No," Mosley mouthed. "Let him go."
France told jurors that three witnesses would testify on Tuesday; Robinson, then-Cpl. Jarius Sanders, and Lewis himself.
"You have to decide what testimony you believe and what testimony you don't believe," France said.
Both Robinson and Sanders testified that the incident Lewis claimed left him more injured never happened.
"Have you ever assaulted an inmate before?" Lewis asked Robinson on the witness stand.
"I never assaulted you," Robinson responded.
"So you've assaulted other inmates?" Lewis asked.
"I never assaulted you at all," Robinson repeated.
At 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, the case was turned over to the jury. At 4:30 p.m., the eight jurors filed back into the courtroom.
After the verdict was read, Wilson thanked the jury, saying, "I believe we have the best justice system in the world here in the United States."
At that, Lewis shook his head almost imperceptibly.
As court was dismissed, Robinson walked out of the courtroom, giving a high-five to one person in the gallery and then to others standing outside the courtroom awaiting the verdict as Lewis was escorted out through a secure hallway to be transported back to prison.