Terrence Lewis, the conductor involved in the 2015 drive-by shooting, was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 22 years to life in prison.
A New York state judge released him this week on a technicality, saying authorities improperly held him in a Pennsylvania prison without following a 1970 federal law on interstate detention rules, and he was sentenced to an unrelated sentence. It was determined that he was awaiting trial while serving his sentence. Johnny Washington, 29, was murdered.
Mr. Washington died on May 26, 2015 in Rochester, New York. Lewis, 31, was found guilty of second-degree murder on October 11, 2018, and sentenced the following December, according to the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
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A court has dismissed the case against convicted murderer Terrence Lewis, releasing him from prison on a technicality after local authorities sent him to the wrong prison while awaiting trial. . (Rochester Police Department)
Under the Interstate Compact on Detainer Laws, if a prisoner convicted in one state is indicted in another state, he or she must be held in the new jurisdiction while awaiting trial or the case will be terminated. Must be rejected.
Lewis was serving a federal prison sentence in Pennsylvania when New York authorities indicted him for Washington’s murder. Before releasing him this month, a Monroe County judge ruled that the case should be dismissed because authorities returned him to Pennsylvania instead of taking him into custody in New York, the newspaper reported. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
He completed his federal sentence on August 14, 2020, according to federal prison records.
A police officer stands next to a Rochester Police Department patrol car. (Rochester Police Department)
Kyle Steinbach, a former Monroe County prosecutor who was instrumental in convicting Lewis, told the New York Post that releasing the suspect puts the life of a star witness at risk.
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“In my opinion, that person’s life is now in danger,” he told the paper.
He argued that Lewis should be retried rather than released. However, the judge dismissed the case “with prejudice”, meaning it could not be retried.
“The harsh reality is that 12 jurors from our community, after hearing all the evidence presented before them, found the defendant guilty of the murder of Johnny C. Washington. Nevertheless, this administrative prison decision was made based on the prison’s population and conditions; the timing, not the law, was biased against the defendant based on the strict requirements of the IAD’s anti-shuttle provisions. “clearly authorizes a second-degree murder charge to be dismissed,” Judge Stephen Miller wrote in his Feb. 5 ruling.
Prosecutors say Lewis was the man driving the car during the drive-by shooting that killed Washington at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Bay Street in Rochester.
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“In May 2015, Terrence Lewis made a senseless but deliberate decision to participate in the murder of Johnny Washington,” Steinbach said in a statement after the sentencing. “Thanks to the excellent investigation by the Rochester Police Department, Terrence Lewis may be away from this community and spend the rest of his life behind bars. We are confident that this sentence will continue to impact the suffering of Johnny Washington. I hope this brings a sense of justice and closure to the family.”
This week, Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter released a new statement apologizing to the family.
“There is no doubt that there is a lack of fairness based on this decision, which violates the principles of justice, and there are no words that can alleviate the pain that you are rightly feeling,” he said. “I sincerely apologize.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
