NEW BOSTON, Texas -A Bowie County jury found a father guilty of felony murder Thursday in the March death of his 4-year-old son.
Benearl Jermane Lewis Jr., 25, faces a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison. The jury had the option of convicting Benearl Lewis of capital murder for taking the life of a child under 10 but opted instead for the lesser offense of murder. Fifth District Judge Bill Miller instructed the nine-woman, three-man jury to return to court Friday morning to hear testimony concerning the punishment Benearl Lewis should receive for killing D'Money.
Benearl Lewis claimed the child suffered a bevy of external, internal and traumatic head injuries by falling from a 34-inch tall chest freezer. An emergency room doctor, a medical examiner, and a physician specializing in pediatric child abuse cases testified that the freezer scenario couldn't possibly explain what happened to D'Money.
The youngster, who would have turned 5 in April, suffered a massive, catastrophic head injury which caused his brain to herniate into his spinal column. Once D'Money's brain began to herniate there was no chance he would survive, testified Karen Farst, a pediatrician who specializes in child abuse cases.
Because there was no chance of saving D'Money, surgeons did not operate to repair damage and bleeding in his internal organs. Strap marks were evident on D'Money's legs and scars in his groin area indicated he had suffered beatings to that area of his body in the past, experts testified.
D'Money's mother, Khadijah Wright, 26, who is also facing criminal charges in connection with the death, uncharacteristically left her job hours early and without clocking out after receiving a text and speaking to Benearl Lewis on the phone around 2 p.m. March 6, Wake Village Police Department Interim Police Chief Todd Aultman testified Wednesday.
Two hours later Benearl Lewis and Wright stopped at the scene of a traffic accident on Seventh Street in Texarkana, Texas, and asked a patrol officer for a police escort to the hospital. Officer Brent Hobbs flew into action upon realizing there was a child not breathing, cold to the touch and unresponsive in the car. Hobbs called back a firetruck and ambulance which had just departed the accident scene and first responders worked frantically to save D'Money.
While paramedics were able to restore D'Money's heartbeat, it was too late. Farst testified that it is possible that D'Money might have survived had he received treatment immediately after suffering the blow to his head to reduce the swelling and bleeding that provoked herniation of his brain into his spinal column. Assistant District Attorneys Kelley Crisp and Lauren Richards theorized that Benearl Lewis used the hours between violently attacking his child and putting him in the car to come up with a story to explain D'Money's injuries.
Benearl Lewis was forbidden at the time of D'Money's death to be alone with his children or to spend the night in the home with them, Child Protective Services Special Investigator Judie Townsend testified Thursday. Townsend said Benearl Lewis and Wright often moved across state lines between Miller County, Ark., and Bowie County, Texas, to avoid investigations by child welfare officials who are unable to follow a case across state lines. Townsend said Benearl Lewis has a history of fabricating explanations for injuries to his children determined to have been caused by abuse.
Townsend said CPS received four calls from staff at Wake Village Elementary School via the child abuse hotline on a single day in February, just a few weeks before D'Money's death.
Wright is charged with injury to a child by omission, a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison. She is scheduled for trial before Miller next month.