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Eric Lewis told a Douglas County district judge this morning he wishes the judge "would just leave and die."
Lewis' comments came as prosecutors and defense attorneys prepared to pick a jury to hear his case on charges that he assaulted three Douglas County corrections officers.
Douglas County District Judge Russell Bowie asked Lewis if he was going to behave during the trial.
That launched Lewis into a two-minute rant in which he called Bowie a "phony-(expletive) judge."
"You just (expletive) up my life," Lewis said.
Lewis has repeatedly blamed Bowie for the death of Dr. Louis Martin, a Regional Center psychiatrist who evaluated Lewis.
Dr. Martin recommended that Lewis needed to be forcefully medicated in order to be declared competent to stand trial in the sexual assaults of two Omaha women.
Based on Martin's testimony, Bowie ordered the Regional Center to do so. Such orders are routine when defendants refuse medication.
After being sent to Lincoln, Lewis killed Martin as the psychiatrist walked into the Lincoln Regional Center. Lewis is serving a life sentence after being convicted of second-degree murder.
Lewis made a motion this morning for Bowie to recuse himself because of his rulings in the earlier case.
Bowie overruled the motion.
Lewis was rolled into the courtroom this morning in an office chair. Five Douglas County sheriff's deputies flanked Lewis. He was wearing at least two stun belts and was in handcuffs and leg restraints.
By Lewis' standards, his rant this morning was mild. Thursday, he overturned a defense table and tried to clear a barrier separating the attorneys from the gallery.
Deputies shocked him with a 50,000-volt stun belt. When that didn't seem to work — one attorney compared Lewis to the Incredible Hulk — deputies then used a Taser gun to subdue him.
That led Bowie to order sheriff's deputies to use whatever means necessary to restrain Lewis.
This morning, Bowie asked Lewis if he was going to be quiet during the trial — unless or until he testifies. Lewis' trial is expected to last four days. Charged as a habitual criminal, he faces 10 to 60 years in prison on each count.
"I'm not going to make an outburst but you phony, man," Lewis said. "I'm fixin' to beat these charges. Let's roll."
Contact the writer:
444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com
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