Judge lets texts by Lewis in trial
State: Sale houses scouted
By John Lynch
This article was published today at 4:17 a.m
Lewis has denied wrongdoing in court filings, and his lawyers have submitted written notice that his defense will be that someone else is to blame for the crimes. The filing does not state whether the second party is his wife; or a man he told investigators helped him restrain Carter after her abduction; or a person whose identity has not been publicly disclosed.
Tuesday's 39-minute hearing was Lewis' eighth court appearance. It was held so that the judge could resolve defense challenges to the legality of a handful of the 60 pieces of evidence that prosecutors plan to introduce during the trial.
Defense attorney Bill James and co-counsel Lee Short objected to the text messages -- a single exhibit containing 40 messages -- saying that they should be barred from disclosure because of marital privilege and court rules that prohibit character evidence.
Prosecutors shouldn't be allowed to show evidence that Lewis and Lowery might have collaborated on crimes other than the ones they're accused of, Short told the judge.
But Wright sided with deputy prosecutor Barbara Mariani, who argued that the messages, supported by Lowery's testimony at trial, are admissible under a provision of the evidentiary rules that allow authorities to show proof of how the crime was planned.
And Wright, who has previously ruled against the defense on the marital-privilege issue, said that protection does not cover criminal activity.
Conspiring to commit a crime ... is not what privilege is supposed to protect," the judge said.
Mariani said the texts, sent over about a two-hour period on Sept. 17, 2014, show that Lewis surveyed two houses that were for sale, with the intention of "targeting and kidnapping" a female real estate agent.
The couple wanted a married woman so a husband would be available to pay ransom, the prosecutor told the judge.
One house was deemed unsuitable because it had too many surveillance cameras, she said, reading from the messages.
None of the messages explicitly state that the couple was planning a kidnapping, Short told the judge. All they show is that Lewis was looking at houses, Short said.
Mariani said the texts show how eager Lewis and Lowery were to put their kidnapping plan into action.
"I'm so ready to do this. I love adrenaline," Lewis wrote in one message to his wife, the prosecutor said.
"They just went until they found a victim," Mariani told the judge. "And they found Mrs. Carter."
The judge also allowed prosecutors to introduce as evidence an email found on Carter's computer that she received on the evening before she disappeared. The email, a request for real estate listings, came from a Google email account that investigators linked to Lowery that uses an alias attributed to Lewis, Steven Adams, said Mariani.
Prosecutors agreed not to mention during the trial or show possible blood spots that were found in the vacant house where Carter was supposed to meet her client, since the marks were never tested to determine what they were.
The defense dropped its objections to two letters and affidavits that prosecutors say Lewis sent to Lowery that directed her on statements to make to authorities.
Also, Lewis' lawyers withdrew challenges to text message records that show 50 text messages exchanged between Carter's cellphone and a phone that Lewis had in his possession, over a two-day period before she disappeared.
The judge ruled that a printout of Carter's agent page on the Crye-Leike Realtors' website, that describes her home sales and some of her background, is not immediately admissible unless prosecutors can prove that Lewis saw it.
Also Tuesday, Lewis' attorneys said they would not present any evidence on behalf of their client beyond what prosecutors produced at the trial.
The judge denied a defense motion to force Lowery to submit to an interview with the defense lawyers ahead of the trial. James said he wanted only 30 minutes with her, but her attorney, Bret Qualls, told the judge that Lowery did not want to talk to James until she has to submit to cross-examination.
Also, the judge reaffirmed his decision allowing prosecutors to use a recording purported to be of Carter that Lewis played for investigators on his cellphone.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/jan/06/judge-lets-texts-by-lewis-in-trial-2016/
JMHO
