Latest news with #MarionCountyProsecutor'sOffice
The Herald Scotland
9 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Caitlin Clark stalker gets maximum prison sentence for stalking
Lewis, 55, received the maximum sentence for the felony charge, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office told The Indianapolis Star. He also has a no-contact order with Clark for the duration of the sentence and has agreed to stay away from Gainbridge Fieldhouse and all Indiana Fever events, according to court records. CAITLIN CLARK: Rookie card sells for $660,000, breaking women's sports card record Clark told police in an interview last January that "she has been very fearful since learning of the messages and that she has altered her public appearances and patterns of movement due to fear for her safety," according to the charging affidavit. "Clark stated that she has become very concerned for her safety after learning that Lewis was in Indianapolis. Clark also stated that she doesn't know Lewis and has never responded to any of his messages or posts." An arrest affidavit for the case detailed more than 15 messages sent from Lewis' X account to Clark, and many of the messages were sexually explicit or violent. Police discovered Lewis' messages in January had come from IP addresses at a Hilton Garden Inn near Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, as well as the downtown Indianapolis Public Library. Lewis' presence in Indianapolis was concerning as he is Denton, Texas, resident, according to the affidavit. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department made contact with Lewis on Jan. 8 at his hotel room concerning the messages, according to police documents. Lewis said the posts that were threatening in nature were not from him and acknowledged, "this is just an imaginary relationship." Despite the initial encounter with law enforcement, the inappropriate messages from Lewis to Clark continued. The Marion County Prosecutors office announced Lewis' arrest on Jan. 13. "No matter how prominent a figure you are, this case shows that online harassment can quickly escalate to actual threats of physical violence," Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement issued last January. "It takes a lot of courage for women to come forward in these cases, which is why many don't. In doing so, the victim is setting an example for all women who deserve to live and work in Indy without the threat of sexual violence." Clark has missed 13 games this season and is currently out with a right groin injury. The Fever (14-12) host the Mercury at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, July 30.
NBC News
2 days ago
- NBC News
Man pleads guilty to stalking and harassing WNBA star Caitlin Clark
A Texas man was sentenced to more than two years in prison Monday after he pleaded guilty to stalking and harassing WNBA star Caitlin Clark, officials said. Michael Lewis, 55, was sentenced to 2.5 years for the stalking charge and was given a 180-day suspended sentence for harassment, a spokesman for Indiana's Marion County Prosecutor's Office said. Lewis, who has been incarcerated at an Indianapolis jail since his arrest in January, will have a time-served credit of 197 days applied toward his prison term, court records show. Lewis was accused of sending a series of vulgar, sexually graphic messages to Clark on X, the social media platform, between December and January, prosecutors have said. 'This resolution ensures that the defendant is held accountable for his threatening actions, the fear he instilled, and the disruption he caused,' Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement Monday. 'He will now spend the next two and a half years in the Department of Corrections, and the victim will be able to have peace of mind while focusing on what matters to her,' Mears said. A stay-away order was also issued for Indiana Fever events and Hinkle Fieldhouse, where Clark's boyfriend, an assistant basketball coach for Butler University, works, the records show. In a presentencing statement Monday, Lewis denied threatening Clark and said he had been trying to highlight security concerns for Clark, NBC affiliate WTHR reported. 'I want her to be safe,' he said, according to WTHR. At one point, the judge presiding over the case interrupted Lewis' statement and warned he was 'going to talk himself out of a plea,' the station reported. 'You have to understand that as part of a plea deal, you are admitting responsibility,' the judge said, according to the station. Clark, who was selected first overall by the Indiana Fever in last year's WNBA draft, is college basketball's all-time leading scorer.
Indianapolis Star
2 days ago
- Indianapolis Star
Texas man receives two and a half years for stalking Caitlin Clark
A Texas man faces two and a half years in prison after pleading guilty on July 28 to sending numerous threats and sexually explicit messages to WNBA star Caitlin Clark. Michael Lewis, 55, of Denton, a surburb of Dallas, messaged Caitlin Clark from his social media accounts beginning in December 2024 until January 2025, officials said. He received the highest maximum sentence possible for his felony charge, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office said. Lewis has a no-contact order with Clark for the duration of the sentence and has agreed to stay away from Gainbridge Fieldhouse and all Indiana Fever events, according to court records. An arrest affidavit detailing the case shows more than 15 messages sent from Lewis' X account to Clark. Many of the messages were sexually explicit and some were violent. "Got banned from caitbridge (sic). Im sorry. Bu maybe I go to ur road ok right?" one of the posts read, according to the affidavit. Federal investigators tracked the messages from IP addresses at a hotel in the 100 block of West Market Street, roughly a mile from where the Fever play, and at the Indianapolis Public Library's Central Library downtown. "Lewis's presence in Indianapolis was especially concerning given that he is a Texas resident," detectives said in the affidavit. Indianapolis police said they confronted Lewis about the messages at the hotel on Jan. 8 and Lewis responded he sent them "just the same reason everybody makes posts." He at first denied making the threatening posts, but then added it "was just an imaginary relationship." The messages continued after the police visit, the affidavit states. Clark told police she has been fearful since learning about the messages and even altered her public appearances and movement because of them.
2 days ago
Man sentenced for stalking and harassing WNBA star Caitlin Clark
Michael Lewis, 55, pleaded guilty to sending the athlete numerous threats. By 1:28 A Texas man has been sentenced for stalking and harassing WNBA star Caitlin Clark over social media. Michael Lewis, 55, was arrested and charged in Indianapolis in January for "sending numerous threats and sexually explicit messages" to the Indiana Fever player via his social media accounts, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office said. He pleaded guilty to harassment and stalking charges on Monday. The judge immediately sentenced him to nearly 2 1/2 years in prison on the stalking charge, a felony, with more than six months in credit for time served, online court records show. He also received a 180-day suspended sentence for the harassment charge. As part of the plea agreement, he cannot contact Clark and has to stay away from various locations in Indianapolis, including Fever events. "This resolution ensures that the defendant is held accountable for his threatening actions, the fear he instilled, and the disruption he caused," Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement, adding that with Lewis sentenced, Clark will "be able to have peace of mind while focusing on what matters to her." The Marion County Sheriff's Office became aware of a "possible pattern of stalking" by Lewis toward Clark in January, according to the affidavit for probable cause. Between Dec. 16, 2024, and Jan. 2, the suspect allegedly sent Clark numerous sexually explicit messages over X, according to the affidavit. Investigators traced the X account to Lewis and determined that recent messages to Clark were sent from an IP address at a hotel in Indianapolis, which was "especially concerning given that he is a Texas resident," the affidavit stated. Indianapolis police officers conducted a welfare check on Lewis, of Denton, Texas, at his hotel room in Indianapolis on Jan. 8, during which they confronted him about the threatening posts, according to the affidavit. "When asked why he was making so many posts about Caitlin Clark, Lewis said, 'just the same reason everybody makes posts,'" the affidavit said. "When asked about posts that were threatening in nature, Lewis said it wasn't him. Lewis claimed that this is just an imaginary relationship." Lewis, who claimed to be in the city on vacation, told officers the posts were a "joke" and "fantasy type thing," and denied that they were threatening, according to the affidavit. Officers told Lewis to stop making such posts, though he continued to post on X to Clark in the days after police contacted him, according to the affidavit. During his initial hearing in Indianapolis in January following his arrest, Lewis said, "Guilty as charged," when the judge greeted him.
Indianapolis Star
5 days ago
- Politics
- Indianapolis Star
Can prosecutors be impeached? This Indiana lawmaker wants to try to change the law
The scrutiny over the Marion County Prosecutor's Office continues in response to a recent spate of gun violence in Indianapolis: this time with a Republican state representative proposing giving legislators impeachment power over the locally elected office. It's not the first hint of state intervention into this locally elected office, but it's certainly the most specific ― and would require a lengthy process of amending the state constitution. After two July weekends of back-to-back violence with multiple people killed, including teenagers, the city's police union president Rick Snyder called on state leaders to "step in," with no further details. Then Gov. Mike Braun said he'd be open to some kind of intervention ― without saying of what sort ― if Indianapolis leaders don't "make a change," specifically pointing the finger at the prosecutor's office, led by Democrat Ryan Mears. "We need to see a significant crackdown," Braun said last week. "Indianapolis' own justice system is not doing the job." Now, Indianapolis state Rep. Andrew Ireland has an idea: allow state lawmakers to impeach Mears, a power the state constitution currently vests in the Indiana Supreme Court. His key claim is that Mears doesn't do enough to keep repeat violent defenders off the streets, citing two recent examples: the case of the alleged IndyGo bus arsonist, Demarcus McCloud, who has a long rap sheet prior to the arson; and Zachary Arnold, who was charged with killing his daughter this year and previously had a violent criminal history. "I just want somebody who will hold the violent offenders accountable, and if Ryan Mears isn't up to that task, then we have to have tools to replace him," Ireland told WIBC's Tony Katz on July 23. A spokesperson for the Marion County Prosecutor's Office responded to Ireland's criticisms with data: In 2024, the office prosecuted nearly a quarter of all criminal trials in the state while maintaining trial conviction rates of 94% for murders, 84% for sex crimes, 83% for attempted murder cases, and 88% for gun cases. Of cases that go to trial, the top five most common offenses were for murder, battery, domestic battery, child molesting and possession of a firearm by serious violent felon, Michael Leffler said. "It's clear that this office is a statewide leader in taking crimes of violence, especially our most serious offenses to trial," he said. What the law says State lawmakers can impeach mayors and other state and local officers for "misdemeanors" while in office. But case law has held that prosecutors are constitutional, judicial officers who are not in the same category as state, county and township executive-branch officers, such as mayors. The constitution further outlines "crime, incapacity, or negligence" as reasons that the General Assembly could impeach a state officer. In the case of prosecutors, however, the state constitution says that the state Supreme Court may remove them, and only if they have been "convicted of corruption or other high crime." IU law professor Joel Schumm points to a Supreme Court opinion from 1914 that states the legislature doesn't have the power to name some other cause, such as "negligence," as a premise for impeachment. Where the legislature could have wiggle room, that opinion states, is in enacting changes to the procedure by which accusations against judges and prosecutors are tried. Those rules would have to be applicable to all judges and prosecutors and provide for a day in court, the court has opined. In short, Schumm said, broadening the basis for removing a prosecutor would require an amendment to the state constitution. That process requires two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly to pass identical language, which would then have to be approved by voters via ballot referendum in the following election. The constitution also enshrines the prosecutor's position as an elected one whose term lasts four years. "If people aren't happy with the work of a prosecutor, they can vote against that person in an election," Schumm said. Braun mulls special prosecutor concept Meanwhile, the governor's office is not tamping down talk of a different not-yet-allowed method of overriding Mears: Braun's appointing a special prosecutor. State law currently says the governor can recommend the state inspector general be named a special prosecutor over a particular case that the county prosecutor declines to take up, but even then, the ultimate decision lies with an appeals court judge. Judges have further powers to appoint special prosecutors in the events that there is evidence of the prosecutor having committed a crime, or to avoid an appearance of impropriety, or if the prosecutor requests one. Braun acknowledged Thursday that state lawmakers would have to pass legislation to grant him the ability to appoint a special prosecutor unilaterally. He reiterated that his preference would be that Marion County leaders "solve their own problems," but said if they don't, the state "can't just stand by doing nothing." "If (state lawmakers) choose to do it, that's fine, because that would have to be done before I have that authority to do so," he said. "I don't think we're there. I think there's going to be enough proactiveness, I'm hoping, but when the need is there before going to that, we're going to be interacting."
