Lakeland, FL: Andrew Lewis Is Convicted in Live-In Lover's Stabbing Death

BARTOW | Jurors found Andrew Lee Lewis guilty Monday of second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of his live-in lover.
Police found the body of Nicholas Lewis, 19, on Nov. 2, 2008, at his home on Pyramid Parkway in Lakeland. He had been stabbed in the neck with a long butcher knife.

Andrew Lewis, 26, and Nicholas Lewis are not related. They met online though MySpace, a social networking site.

During Monday's closing arguments, the defense insisted Nicholas Lewis was the knife-wielding aggressor, and Andrew Lewis had no choice but to protect himself.

Assistant Public Defender Blair Allen said the intimate relationship between the two men was souring and they were arguing.

Andrew Lewis was looking online for bus or train tickets to leave Florida, and he was saying bitter, mean-spirited comments to Nicholas Lewis, Allen said.

"Something in Nicholas snaps," she said.

Andrew Lewis testified that Nicholas Lewis got the knife and a struggle took place.

Allen argued Andrew Lewis had every right to stand his ground and use deadly force. "This was a matter of survival," she said.

Allen said her client's actions after the stabbing were the result of him being in "complete shock" and thinking that no one would believe him.

But prosecutors argued Andrew Lewis' actions after the stabbing proved that he wasn't acting in self-defense.

Andrew Lewis testified that he pulled the knife from Nicholas Lewis' neck.

He washed the knife and his hands in a sink. He shut down a computer where he had been researching the price of train and bus tickets. He took a cellular phone from Nicholas Lewis' pocket and the keys to his Jeep Cherokee.

Andrew Lewis also testified that Nicholas Lewis was still bleeding and coughing, but he didn't call for help and left the home.

When Andrew Lewis called his mother hours after the killing, Assistant State Attorney Paul Wallace said, he didn't tell her about a struggle that left him with no choice but to stab the man who was attacking him.

Andrew Lewis told his mother that the person destroyed his life, Wallace said.

Investigative reports state Andrew Lewis was upset that Nicholas Lewis wrote Internet postings that identified Andrew Lewis as gay.

The jury also found Lewis guilty of grand theft for stealing Nicholas Lewis' vehicle. Lewis faces up to life in prison at sentencing on May 27.