Jury selection is scheduled to take place in Bowie County next month in the case of a father accused of capital murder in the death of his 4-year-old son.
Benearl Jermane Lewis, 24, appeared Monday afternoon before Fifth District Judge Bill Miller for a pretrial hearing with Texarkana lawyer Derric McFarland. Lewis is facing a charge of capital murder in the March 8 death of D'Money Lewis.
The state is not seeking the death penalty for the accused father. If convicted of capital murder, Benearl Lewis faces life without the possibility of parole.
At Monday's hearing, McFarland said he is exploring the possibility of hiring a medical expert to testify for the defense. Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards said the state will be ready to try the case as scheduled next month. Jury selection is scheduled for Nov. 13. Opening statements and testimony are expected to begin the following day.
Lewis has been in custody since his arrest in March. His bail is set at $1 million.
D'Money's mother, Khadijah Wright, 26, is currently free on a $20,000 bond. Wright has been charged with injury to a child by omission in D'Money's death. A date for trial in her case has not been firmly set.
Lewis was not supposed to be alone with D'Money or his 6-year-old brother, according to probable cause affidavits used to create the following account.
"There is a long history of abuse through Texas and Arkansas CPS (Child Protective Services), as well as Texas and Arkansas law enforcement agencies," the affidavit states. "It's obvious that Khadijah Wright knew of the abuse and has never been protective."
Wright allegedly left her job about 2 p.m. March 6 at a local manufacturing plant without clocking out or telling anyone she was leaving after receiving a text from Benearl Lewis that there was an emergency. Just over two hours later, the couple came upon a traffic accident being worked by Texarkana, Texas, police at West Seventh Street and Bishop Lane on the Texas side. The couple told officers they had a child in the car who was unresponsive and not breathing and that they lived in the 200 block of Redwater Road in Wake Village.
While in cardiac arrest, D'Money was taken by ambulance to Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas.
Investigator Todd Aultman's report states he observed a large area of bruising on the boy's back and "strap" marks on D'Money's legs and back. Medical staff members at Wadley told Aultman the boy was suffering from bleeding in the brain and bruising to his back and chest "as if he had been kicked."
After initial treatment at Wadley, D'Money was airlifted to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. Medical staff there told investigators that the boy's injuries were inconsistent with the account allegedly provided by his parents and more likely the result of abuse.
Lewis and Wright allegedly told investigators that D'Money had "jumped or fallen from a deep freezer and that his eyes rolled back in his head," the affidavit states. Lewis allegedly claimed that, after determining the child wasn't breathing, he and Wright decided to take the boy to the hospital in their car.
Following D'Money's death March 8, his body was taken to Dallas for an autopsy. Among the damage documented to the child's body was a "space occupying subdural hematoma" that had caused the youngster's brain to "herniate down into his spine," the affidavit states. Also noted at autopsy were bruising to the child's legs and back and tissue damage in his kidneys.
Lewis and Wright are both scheduled to appear Nov. 12 for pretrial hearings before Miller at the Bi-State Justice Building in downtown Texarkana. A jury will be selected the following day at the Bowie County Courthouse in New Boston, Texas, to decide Lewis' case.