Remember Lyna Warden, the victim of domestic violence who shared her brutal ordeal with readers hours before we all rang in 2015? “After a grueling five months delay of sentencing”–Warden says authorities were awaiting her attacker's military records–the punishment for what James W. Lewis did to her has been handed down by the court.
]
Lyna Warden Finally Gets to Tell Weekly Readers What the Man She Loved Did to Her
If you missed or do not recall Lyna's story, click on the link above to catch up before continuing, because she is far more eloquent in describing her nightmare than I could ever hope to be. Don't worry, the rest of us will wait.
. . .
Got it? Good. Here is her update:
Both my D.A. spoke and his defense as with any sentencing; James spoke directly to me through the glass while seemingly crying saying, “I just want to say to Lyna, I'm sorry and I should have loved you better.” I am still unsure if I believe him, considering he's one of the best manipulators I've ever met, but even with that I nodded toward him in a sort of acceptance, forgiving but never forgetting. His mom was there in the courtroom, his older brother, his grandma and a neighbor. It was really unsettling for me; I remember crying out multiple times.
He got denied probation for a veteran's rehabilitation unit in which he would have to stay at and get tested and be required to do everything they set forth and then he'd be released. Instead, they gave him five years in state prison [with the requirement of] serving 85 percent [behind bars] then be released on parole.
The counts are as follows:
Count 1: assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury – He received the lowest term of two years.
Sentencing enhancement: causing great bodily injury – He received the lowest term of three years.
Count 2: corporal injury on spouse/cohabitant – He received the lowest term of two years.
Sentencing enhancement: causing great bodily injury – He received the lowest term of three years.
Count 3: mayhem – HE RECEIVED STATE PRISON.
For those who, like me, added up all the years and came up with a dime, obviously the prison time for the felony counts and enhancements run concurrently. Add time served in jail already and the presumption Lewis will be a good boy while in the care of state corrections officers, and he'll be out sooner than five years.
“He has about 672 days credit, if I remember correctly, but credit days will be reduced once entered into the state prison system,” Warden says. “If my calculations are correct he should serve close to two and a half more years before being released on parole, on good behavior.”
I have no doubt she'll keep us posted, but let's pray she does not have to.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.