Pubdate: Thu, 27 Feb 2003
Source: Daily Advertiser, The (LA)
Copyright: 2003 South Louisiana Publishing
Contact:  http://www.theadvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1670
Author: Todd Billiot

FAMILY: DRUGS DAMAGED LIVES

19-Year-Old Son Charged In Mother's Stabbing

LAFAYETTE - The "magic mushrooms" changed a family's life, perhaps forever, 
the people closest to Kevin Lewis said this week. By all accounts, the 
19-year-old was a good son, student and friend. He was raised in an Ozzie 
and Harriet-like family with his mother, Jeannine Lewis, father, Mark Lewis 
and older brother, Daniel Lewis.

Today, he stands accused of stabbing his mother on Feb. 19, behind a strip 
mall on West Congress Street, nearly killing her. Daniel Lewis said his 
mother was begging her youngest son to get help for a drug habit, when his 
brother allegedly attacked her.

Kevin Lewis was charged with attempted murder, while his mother struggled 
for life in a local hospital, following surgery for a punctured lung. Her 
wounds were so severe that the police initially reported her dead.

She had been stabbed three times in the neck, twice in the chest, twice in 
the back and once on her wrist. The stab wounds appeared to have been made 
with a Swiss Army-type of knife.

"The cuts are so small," Daniel Lewis said, but still enough to cause 
paralysis on the left side of her body.

"I am just back from seeing her, and it hit me so hard. I am living in 
shock," Daniel Lewis said. But his mother had been responsive, even 
squeezing her older son's hand when he asked her a question.

It all began falling apart about a year ago, after Kevin Lewis' best friend 
was killed in an auto accident. He began using drugs to numb the grief, 
Daniel Lewis said, smoking marijuana and ingesting a drug known as magic 
mushrooms.

Mushrooms, the most common being psilocybin, can cause severe 
hallucinations, and, depending on the dosage, the high can last for hours, 
according to the North American Mycological Association, mushroom poisoning 
case registry. Kevin Lewis was a good child who came from a very good 
family, said longtime family friend Brenda Menard.

The younger Lewis graduated from Teurlings High School, where he was an 
average student an and a member of the cross-country track team, his 
brother said.

"He was fine until he got on these mushrooms," Daniel Lewis said.

Added Menard: "If it could happen to that family, it could happen to me, 
and it could happen to you."

Daniel Lewis described his parents' marriage as a strong one. He called his 
mother a caring woman, a churchgoer, who volunteered for Meals on Wheels.

Jeannine Lewis, 52, is slowly recovering at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional 
Medical Center. But she'll never be the same, the 27-year-old Daniel Lewis 
said. She was taken off the ventilator and the tubes were removed from her 
chest this week, but a part of her brain is dead, he said.

The family now wants some answers.

Daniel Lewis said his brother was taken by police to University Medical 
Center on

Feb. 16 for treatment after a psychotic episode, three days before he 
stabbed his mother.

Police got involved because Kevin Lewis was walking around his house naked, 
holding a sword and acting erratic. Neighbors came over to help, and when 
police arrived, they had to pepper spray him to take the sword away, said 
Cpl. Mark Francis, Lafayette police spokesman. No charges were filed 
because it was believed that Kevin Lewis was only a threat to himself and 
no one else, Francis said.

Daniel Lewis said doctors at UMC asked his brother if he was hearing 
voices. He eventually was released. Daniel Lewis said he's trying to obtain 
the medical records from that hospital visit. He believes his brother 
should have been kept there.

Family and friends said Jeannine Lewis had been terribly worried about her son.

"She was always nervous because of Kevin. He occupied all of her time," 
Daniel Lewis said.

Authorities with the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center wouldn't say if 
Kevin Lewis was under the influence of drugs when he was booked into jail.

On the day the incident happened, Jeannine Lewis took a long lunch break 
from her job selling tickets at the Cajundome, telling her boss she needed 
to check on her son.

Police said Jeannine and Kevin Lewis drove to the parking lot of the strip 
mall where Camellia Cleaners and B.J.'s Pizza are located on West Congress 
Street.

Police said Jeannine Lewis was stabbed in the alley behind the strip mall, 
and a wooden pallet placed on top of her. Kevin Lewis drove away in her 
car, police said. An employee of B.J.'s Pizza found Jeannine Lewis and 
called authorities. Kevin Lewis was arrested the next day.

Family friends reacted in disbelief.

Sheryl O'Meara said younger children in the neighborhood looked up to 
Kevin. In addition to running cross country and track during high school, 
he liked to play ice and roller hockey.

"I get mad because it's hard for me to understand," O'Meara said. "Whenever 
you look at the Lewis family, you say that wouldn't happen to them. ... He 
was a normal child."

(Metro Editor Kristi Dempsey contributed to this report.)
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