After just an hour of deliberation, a jury convicted Jaylin Jevon Lewis on two counts of injury to a child related to the 2022 death of a Port Arthur toddler. Lewis, the live-in boyfriend of the victim’s sister, was found guilty of neglecting to provide food and necessary medical care, leading to the tragic death of 3-year-old King Dewey on May 31, 2022. The child, who had special needs, was discovered emaciated and weighing only 19 pounds.
Jury selection began in Lewis’ threeday trial before 252nd District Court Judge Raquel West on Aug. 26.
According to grand jury indictments issued against Lewis on June 29, 2022, he, at some point, had assumed care, custody or control of the child and allegedly failed to provide food and medical care for the child, both neglectful acts felonies of the first degree. The indictments also alleged the use of a padlock capable of causing serious bodily injury or death.
After discovering the child’s lifeless body, the Port Arthur Police Department arrested the boy’s mom, Tina Louis, as well as his 21-year-old sister, Kirsten Louis, and charged each with first-degree felony injury to a child. A media alert was issued in search of Lewis, who was later located in Houston and arrested on June 29, 2022.
According to the probable cause affidavit for the arrest of the child’s mother and sister, Dewey had been left in the care of his sister since December 2021. Kirsten advised officers that she had informed her mother of Dewey’s condition but was afraid to call police or EMS for fear of having her siblings removed by CPS, because her mother had prior cases with CPS.
Kirsten Louis accepted a plea deal and entered a plea of guilty in both charges of injury to a child before Judge West on Aug. 27, agreeing to a 30-year sentence for each charge, to run concurrently.
During the opening arguments of Lewis’ trial, prosecuting attorney Tommy Coleman described that the child’s mother had left him at his sister’s place for weeks at a time while she was “off galivanting around Houston with a new boyfriend.” She will have to answer for her actions in court one day, as well, Coleman assured.
“Tina Louis is not on trial today,” Coleman said, swearing an oath to those in the courtroom. “Mark my words, my career will not end without me prosecuting Tina Louis … Tina Louis will get her turn in this chair, but that’s not today.”
For this trial, Coleman informed the jury that evidence would show Lewis, not wanting to care for King Dewey, frequently locked the toddler in a closet and neglected to provide adequate food and medical care.
Defense attorney Thomas Burbank declined to make an opening statement.
John Boleyn, an employee of the Port Arthur Police Department (PAPD) dispatch, was the first of many to testify. Boleyn introduced the 911 dispatch record before allowing the call to be played in court.
The 911 call began with Kirsten giving the dispatcher her address and attempting to explain the situation for quite a while before telling the dispatcher, “It’s like he’s not breathing right now.”
“Come on, King, come on, King,” Kirsten can be heard repeatedly saying. “He’s on the floor, my boyfriend’s right here,” she added, just before the call abruptly disconnected.
Jacob Rodriguez, a firefighter, engineer, and first responder from the Port Arthur Fire Department, took the stand next. Rodriguez testified that they found the child lying on the floor, appearing “frail-looking and emaciated.”
“A quick assessment showed no pulse or breathing, and signs of rigor mortis were already present,” said Rodriguez, who also recalled that Kirsten mentioned the child had been alive the previous night but had not been eating much. “He had been deceased too long for us to be able to do anything to help him.”
Fire and police officers were brought before the court to add in elements such as Lewis being seen packing a bag and leaving the scene while they were attending to the deceased child, commentary that the child was living only on “milk and vitamins,” as well as the conditions of three other children present, who were reportedly dirty, living in squalor, sleeping on deflated air mattresses and hungry. In the room where King was found, there was a door to a closet that was padlocked. Once the door was pried open, the crevice revealed toys, a makeshift bed, soiled sheets, men’s work clothes that matched those of Lewis, and a strong odor of urine.
Crime scene photos presented into evidence showed the body of a severely frail and malnourished toddler with thin limbs and a protruding rib cage, and the closet and its contents, which included men’s clothing, work uniforms, bedding and toys.
“We woke up this morning and see what we do... my boyfriend gets ready to go to work, and we feed all the kids... we tried to give him something to drink, and his jaw was locked, and he wasn’t moving,” Kirsten advised.
Day one of trial concluded with testimony from Benjamin Dewey, the biological father of King Dewey and two of the other children. Dewey said he received messages from an anonymous Facebook page saying King was being mistreated and that he was unsuccessful in trying to contact the child after receiving those messages.
Clad in county jail garb, Kirsten took the stand Aug. 28, establishing that the defendant provided care for King and all the children regularly, both in her presence and when she was away from the home. A series of text messages show them discussing King being kept in the closet on multiple occasions, as well as an instance of Kirsten begging Lewis to “let him out of the closet,” which the defense would later argue was in reference to a dog.
Lewis took the stand in his own defense prior to closing arguments, intent on establishing that he did not want nor have primary responsibility for the children, explaining that he and Kirsten argued often in regard to the children and she would tell him they were her responsibility and things weren’t up to him.
Burbank began his closing arguments by stating that Tina, King’s mother, was fleeing from CPS, and that King’s issues existed before she abandoned the children in Port Arthur. He reiterated that Tina had been informed of King’s condition and was repeatedly asked to pick up her children.
Coleman urged the jury not to “fall for the smoke and mirrors business … and start talking about Tina didn’t do this and Kirsten didn’t do that.” The jury returned shortly with a guilty verdict. Despite the jury’s determination, Lewis was steadfast in claiming innocence and offered testimony that he was a hard-working man and provider for his disabled father, who doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.
“He was not my responsibility,” Lewis said of the dead child he admitted never lifting even a phone to help during his last opportunity to testify before jury sentencing.
The words of the now-convicted child abuser fell cold on Coleman: “It seems a little remorseless,” he said.
The punishment phase of the trial was set to continue Aug. 29, as this print circulates. Lewis’ punishment can range from 5 to 99 years, or life in prison, for each charge of injury to a child, and/or a fine up to $10,000. Additionally, Judge West approved Coleman’s filing to cumulate Lewis’ charges, which means the punishments could potentially be stacked on top of each other rather than run concurrently, at Judge West’s discretion.