strongernow
06-10-2004, 06:18 PM
Parole denied sixth time in 1979 killing
He was 16 when he shot, killed city police officer
BY JIM HOUSTON
A Columbus man who was 16 years old when he and a companion shot and killed a Columbus police officer during a convenience store robbery has been denied parole for the sixth time by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.
William Spicer Lewis III has served more than 25 years behind bars since he shot and killed Patrolman James Neal Bowers as the officer investigated the April 3, 1979, armed robbery of the Majik Market at 2920 N. Lumpkin Road. Bowers died instantly from the .38-caliber bullet that struck him in the head moments after he spoke briefly with Lewis and Robert Scott Jackson.
Lewis was originally sentenced to death for the murder, but the conviction was overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court. When the case was sent back to Muscogee Superior Court for retrial in 1981, Judge Albert Thompson overruled the district attorney's attempt to seek the death penalty and sentenced Lewis to life imprisonment.
Jackson, who was 15 when he and Lewis herded a convenience store clerk and two customers into a cooler before Bowers entered the store, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Bowers, 32, had a wife and 5-year-old son. A seven-year veteran of the police department, he was an Auburn University graduate with a bachelor's degree in political science, earned a criminal justice degree from Columbus College while working as a patrolman, and had completed degree requirements at Woodrow Wilson Law School. He was studying to take the bar exam, but was slain before he could take the test.
Lewis had two years added to his life sentence in January 1984 after he escaped from the Georgia Industrial Institute in Alto.
The parole board had denied Lewis parole five times, but board member Garland Hunt said parole was rejected for the sixth time because of the brutal nature and circumstances of the offense.
Lewis will not be considered again for parole until December 2011. He is serving his life sentence at Autry State Prison in Pelham, where Jackson also is currently incarcerated
He was 16 when he shot, killed city police officer
BY JIM HOUSTON
A Columbus man who was 16 years old when he and a companion shot and killed a Columbus police officer during a convenience store robbery has been denied parole for the sixth time by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.
William Spicer Lewis III has served more than 25 years behind bars since he shot and killed Patrolman James Neal Bowers as the officer investigated the April 3, 1979, armed robbery of the Majik Market at 2920 N. Lumpkin Road. Bowers died instantly from the .38-caliber bullet that struck him in the head moments after he spoke briefly with Lewis and Robert Scott Jackson.
Lewis was originally sentenced to death for the murder, but the conviction was overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court. When the case was sent back to Muscogee Superior Court for retrial in 1981, Judge Albert Thompson overruled the district attorney's attempt to seek the death penalty and sentenced Lewis to life imprisonment.
Jackson, who was 15 when he and Lewis herded a convenience store clerk and two customers into a cooler before Bowers entered the store, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Bowers, 32, had a wife and 5-year-old son. A seven-year veteran of the police department, he was an Auburn University graduate with a bachelor's degree in political science, earned a criminal justice degree from Columbus College while working as a patrolman, and had completed degree requirements at Woodrow Wilson Law School. He was studying to take the bar exam, but was slain before he could take the test.
Lewis had two years added to his life sentence in January 1984 after he escaped from the Georgia Industrial Institute in Alto.
The parole board had denied Lewis parole five times, but board member Garland Hunt said parole was rejected for the sixth time because of the brutal nature and circumstances of the offense.
Lewis will not be considered again for parole until December 2011. He is serving his life sentence at Autry State Prison in Pelham, where Jackson also is currently incarcerated