Roderick Deshun Lewis, the convicted killer and armed robber charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a Perry County jailer last year, was charged Tuesday with three counts of second-degree battery over accusations he bit, punched and pepper-sprayed Faulkner County deputies and jailers in their detention center.
Court filings show the new charges against Lewis, each a Class D felony with a six-year maximum, stem from a Sept. 7 incident in the Faulkner County jail where Lewis is being held for Perry County authorities on capital murder and drug charges.
Jailers were investigating a disturbance involving other inmates in Lewis' holding area who were accusing him of trying to pick fights. Detention officer Kody Kelly and Cpl. Shelby Loggins went to Lewis' cell, telling him that they were removing him from his cell for his own safety and taking him to booking so "we could figure out what the situation was," Loggins reported.
Told that he would be handcuffed, Lewis refused, stating he "didn't have any issues with anyone," denied doing anything wrong and refused to submit while continuing to argue, according to charging papers. Loggins warned that if Lewis did not submit to the cuffs in five seconds, he would be pepper sprayed.
"Detainee Lewis stated, 'Oh, so you are going to pepper spray me?' I responded with 'yes.' Detainee Lewis then stated, 'OK, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.' I stated OK and administered a steady five-second burst of pepper spray," Loggins reported.
Lewis then lunged at Loggins and punched her, knocking the deputy face-first into some metal on the ground and knocking the spray out of Loggins' hands. When she got up, Loggins said she saw Kelly and another detention officer, Tammy Hendricks, grappling with Lewis to handcuff him. Loggins reported she then deployed her electric stun gun but was pepper sprayed and then kicked in the face by Lewis before they could subdue him.
Lewis bit both Kelly and Hendricks and sprayed them during the struggle before Kelly was able to get the spray away from Lewis, charging papers show. The incident was recorded on jail security cameras.
In Perry County, Lewis, 38, of North Little Rock, is charged with capital murder, accused of killing jailer Jeremiah James Story, in the jail where Lewis was being booked on methamphetamine and fentanyl charges. Prosecutors have not said whether they'll seek the death penalty. He's being held without bail.
Lewis is next due in court in Perry County on March 7, with his attorneys petitioning for a change of venue that would see him tried in Pulaski County. They've also asked that Lewis be allowed bond.
According to an arrest affidavit, Story and a jail trustee were in the restroom with Lewis to put on his jail uniform. When they attempted to undress him, Lewis began to scuffle with them, then pulled a 9mm pistol from his pants and shot Story in the chest. The gun was jammed by the shell casing not completely ejecting so Lewis could not shoot again.
A deputy who heard the shot went into the restroom and found Story on the floor with the trustee, George White, pinning Lewis against the wall. A stun gun did not affect Lewis who continued to fight even after a second deputy joined the struggle and used her stun gun before Lewis could be subdued.
Lewis had been arrested about an hour before the slaying when a Perry County deputy encountered him in a silver Ford Taurus parked on Arkansas 10, just inside the county. Questioning Lewis, the deputy smelled marijuana, checked his criminal history and called for backup when she learned Lewis had been convicted of capital murder at age 17. The officers determined that Lewis was intoxicated, took him to jail and had his car towed.
At the time, Lewis was awaiting trial in Pulaski County on domestic violence charges, accused of attacking his girlfriend in front of the woman's young son at the couple's Little Rock home in November 2021.
The woman told police that Lewis got mad at her when she refused to have sex with him, repeatedly choking her and throwing her around the house. She escaped, leaving her son behind, and called police, who arrested Lewis after a brief standoff. He spent two nights in jail before posting $50,000 bond.
Lewis was convicted of capital murder at trial in July 2002 and sentenced to life in prison for killing a 35-year-old father of six in North Little Rock two weeks before Lewis turned 17. But his sentence was nullified by a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that barred no-parole life sentences for killers who were under 18. Resentenced to 20 years in prison, Lewis was approved for parole in August 2020 about one year before his new sentence expired.
Authorities say Lewis killed Samuel "Cameo" Lunnie, shooting him once in the chest and four times in the back, with the older man dying as he tried to crawl away from Lewis as the teen emptied his gun into him.
Court records show that Lunnie and Lewis had gotten into a confrontation in the doorway of the North Little Rock home where Lunnie's girlfriend and her baby lived. Lewis tried to force his way into the home while Lunnie was trying to push the door close. But Lunnie slipped and fell and Lewis started shooting, running away before police arrived. He surrendered when he learned police were looking for him.
Lewis's capital murder conviction was his second prison sentence. In May 2002, Lewis was sentenced to 10 years in prison for aggravated robbery for stealing $1,300 from a man at gunpoint in North Little Rock, with police reporting that he pointed the firearm in Ricky Brewer's face and pulled the trigger three times. Authorities did not know whether the gun he used in the February 2000 holdup was real.
Prosecutors said that Brewer had driven to the 900 block of Magnolia Street to buy drugs where he encountered Lewis selling them. Police found Brewer's money in Lewis' shoes.