Jury: Dexter Lewis Guilty Of Killing 5 People In Fero's Bar, Eligible For Death Penalty
DENVER (CBS4)- Jurors have found Dexter Lewis guilty of killing five people inside a Denver bar during a botched robbery and then attempting to cover up the crime by setting the place on fire with the victims still inside.
Lewis, 25, remained without expression throughout his capital murder trial. The jury got the case late Wednesday afternoon.
Lewis was found guilty of killing five people inside Fero's Bar & Grill on South Colorado Boulevard and then setting the building on fire in October 2012. Prosecutors say Lewis and the other co-defendants went to the bar to rob it but it turned into a brutal murder scene.
He was found guilty five counts of first-degree murder after deliberation, five counts of first-degree murder-felony murder, five counts of criminal attempt to commit robbery and one count of arson. His family had no comment as they left court Monday morning.
The two other co-defendants, brothers Lynell and Joseph Hill, pleaded guilty to the killings two years ago after agreeing to testify against Lewis.
The victims include 53-year-old Young Suk Fero, an Aurora woman who owned the bar; Daria M. Pohl, 21, of Denver; Kellene Fallon, 44, of Denver; Ross Richter, 29, of Overland Park, Kansas; and Tereasa Beesley, 45, of Denver. Fero's daughter cried in court as the verdict was read.
The defense says Denver police initially had no witnesses and suspects in the murders. Then walked in a confidential informant from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Demarea Harris, who was at the crime scene with the three defendants.
The prosecution defended their star witness saying he had no motive to come forward to police other than his conscience.
Lewis was found guilty on five counts of first degree murder, five counts of aggravated robbery, and one count of arson.
The case is the first capital punishment case in Denver in more than a decade. The sentencing phase will determine whether Lewis will be sentenced to death or face life in prison. In Colorado the death penalty is carried by lethal injection.
