After hearing testimony from six different parties during a preliminary exam Monday, Judge Donna Howard ruled that there was enough probable cause to establish John Lewis as a suspect in a Niles Township murder.

Lewis, 49, of Niles Township, received the charge after his wife, Carla Lewis, was fatally shot on Aug. 13 at the couple’s home at 1429 Lawndale Ave. in Niles Township. Lewis was arrested that evening because he was in noncompliance with medical marijuana laws, because he did not have a lock on his medical marijuana room and because he had let other people tend to his marijuana.

He received a charge for manufacturing a controlled substance.

The preliminary exam was scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and lasted until nearly 3 p.m. Witnesses were cross-examined by Berrien County Prosecutor Jerry Vigansky, Chief Public Defender Carl Macpherson and Assistant Public Defender Ryan Seale.

The first person called to testify was Justin Hicks, who reported to police that Lewis asked him to retrieve ammunition on Aug. 13 from a business that Lewis owned in Belle Plaza. 

Hicks said that he had known Lewis for three to four years and had been doing some renovation work at Lewis’ store, the Sevenleaves Compassion Club, 1046 Bell Road in Belle Plaza. Lewis’ compassion club has sold smoking paraphernalia and functioned as a club for medical marijuana card holders.

Hicks told the court that on Aug. 13, Lewis texted Hicks asking him to bring the store key to his home. Hicks said he arrived at Lewis’ house at about 3:10 p.m. to return the key. When he knocked on Lewis’ front door, he said he could see Lewis inside the house with what appeared to be a male. When Lewis came to the door, he told Hicks to keep the key so that he could finish his construction work. Lewis then asked if he would retrieve some ammunition for him from his store.

Hicks said he thought the request was a little out of the ordinary, but he said it didn’t seem like any of his business. Hicks said he followed Lewis’ instructions and was able to locate a bag of with seven to eight Russian steel Tula brand ammunitions and a magazine clip.

Hicks said he put the ammunition in the trunk of his car and ran some errands, then returned to his home, where he saw a Facebook post stating that someone had been shot at Lewis’ house.

Hicks said he drove to Lewis’ house, but the street was blocked off with police cars, so he consulted his brother and parents about the situation and then called the police to report the information.

“My first reaction was I believed the story that two people had broken into his house and murdered his wife,” Hicks said. “But with him wanting me to get ammunition, it seemed odd.”

Hicks said he left the ammunition in his trunk and later turned it over to a detective.

Jessica Frucci also testified Monday. Frucci is Berrien County Sheriff’s Department patrol officer who was working the evening of Aug. 13, when Lewis called 9-1-1 to report a shooting at his home. Frucci said that evening, she was stationed between Lowe’s and Walmart on S. 11th Street and was able to make it to Lewis’ residence within minutes of his call. Frucci was the first to arrive on the scene that night. She said within a minute of her arrival, two other officers arrived on the scene and together, the three officers approached the home, entering through the garage.

Frucci said they shouted into the home announcing who they were, but officers heard no response. They proceeded into the home, where they found Lewis’ two dogs who appeared to be startled, but were not barking. One of the officers eventually locked he dogs in a bedroom.

The last room that was checked was in the basement of the home, where Frucci said officers found a secret door in the laundry room that had been made to look like a bookshelf. The door was ajar and upon entering, officers discovered a 7-foot-by 9-foot room, where seven marijuana plants were growing. They also found Lewis and Carla. Carla was bleeding from the head and her face was tipped into a marijuana plant. Lewis was nearby and was ordered to crawl on his hands and knees out of the room.

“He said, ‘she’s not breathing,’” Frucci said.

Once outside of the grow room, police patted Lewis down. No weapon was found.

Frucci said Lewis appeared badly shaken and had blood down the front of his shirt.

Reflecting on the scene, Frucci said there were a few things about the situation that she recalled as odd.

“I did not hear him yelling for help,” Frucci said. “Usually individuals in need will yell for help.”

Frucci said she also found it odd that the phone that looked to be Lewis’ was found in the basement, but had no blood on it. 

Officers found four bullet holes in the wall and Russian steel Tula brand casings that matched the casings Hicks had found in Lewis’ store.

One witness confessed to having an on again off again affair with Lewis. Her name has been omitted based in the sensitive nature of her relationship to Lewis.

The woman said she had known Lewis for about eight years and the two struck up a friendship that turned into an affair. The witness said she was aware that Lewis was married and had met Carla at least once.

At times, the woman said her relationship with Lewis was somewhat of a business transaction and she would trade sex for marijuana and money. She also told the court that Lewis had professed his love for her and asked her to leave her boyfriend. She said in the summer of 2016, Lewis had asked her if their situation would be different if he were a widow. In another conversation, she said he had talked about overdosing Carla with Xanax.

However, she said she didn’t believe that Lewis actually intended to hurt Carla, because of the statements.

“I didn’t even think he was being for real,” she said. “People get mad and say things they don’t mean.”

On Aug. 13, the woman said she and Lewis met at his house a little before noon. When she arrived at Lewis’ house that day, she described seeing an African American man in the driveway near a gold Impala. She did not interact with the man herself, but said she saw Lewis give him a Ziploc bag, with unknown its contents, but guessed it was marijuana. She then heard John say, ‘I’ll get at you later’ to the man.

Lewis and the woman resumed their afternoon, which included sex and smoking a marijuana joint. The activities ended when Lewis got a text and told the woman she needed to leave right away. The woman said this was not particularly odd, because she sometimes would have to pack up in a hurry to avoid running into Carla, who might be on the way home.

Lewis dropped the woman off. When she later heard about  Carla’s death, she said she contacted a friend of hers who was also a detective and shared information. 

Detective Lt. Rick Biggart spoke with Lewis shortly after the crime had been reported. At the time Biggart said he had no reason to believe Lewis was a suspect. Biggart said Lewis seemed noticeably shaken and was at times mumbling and incomprehensible.

Biggart said Lewis told him that Carla had returned home that evening and that they talked for an hour or so. Lewis said he and Carla had then gone into the grow room in the basement to move some marijuana plants.

“He was bending down to move a plant, when [Lewis said] the room erupted

into gunfire,” Biggart said. “He said the subjects fired multiple rounds.”

Lewis described one of the attackers as a 6-foot-2 African American man with a baseball cap, accompanied by a shorter African American male, who Lewis said he saw through the open door.

When asked where Carla’s car had gone, Lewis said he guessed it had been stolen by the assailants.

When asked about the uncovered ammunition in Hicks’ possession, Biggart told the court Lewis asked for a lawyer.

Other witnesses who testified included Detective Lt. Greg Sanders and Berrien County Sheriff’s Department Detective Sgt. Shawn Yech, who works for the Southwest Enforcement Team-West Office.

After the testimony, Macpherson said he objected to the idea that there was probable cause to try Lewis for the crime of first degree murder.

Macpherson said no weapon was ever uncovered and that Lewis stayed at the scene with Carla and consistently appeared emotionally shaken during his interviews with authorities.   

Furthermore, Macpherson cited testimony that items had been stolen from a safe Lewis had located in the bedroom and Carla’s credit cards were stolen.

In regards to the charge for manufacturing a substance, Macpherson said he had a general objection. He said Lewis is a medical marijuana card holder and was in compliance with the number of plants he was under law allowed to have.

Howard saw the testimony differently and said that while some of the witnesses’ testimony appeared to have been adequately challenged, she said she believed there was substantial evidence to try Lewis for the crime.

Lewis has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Lewis will undergo a case conference on Nov. 3; a status conference on Dec. 29 and a jury trial Jan. 9 to 19.