By Mensah M. Dean
The Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — John “Jordan” Lewis, accused of killing Philadelphia Police Officer Chuck Cassidy, yesterday unexpectedly asked to withdraw a pretrial motion filed by his attorney to suppress a confession he made in the Oct. 31, 2007, shooting.
Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart granted Lewis’ request, which means that the statement he made to Miami police a week after the shooting can be used to help convict him.
Prosecutors in the District Attorney’s Office have indicated that they will seek the death penalty against Lewis, 23, who is also charged with six armed robberies and related offenses.
Lewis, who fled to Miami by Greyhound bus after the shooting, yesterday assured the judge that he made the decision to withdraw the suppression motion of his own free will after having conferred with Michael Coard, one of his two defense attorneys.
The development played out in front of a courtroom packed with police brass, officers and the slain officer’s wife, Judy, and their three children.
The defense lawyers and the prosecution team of Assistant District Attorneys Jennifer Selber and Edward Cameron have been barred by Minehart from discussing the case with members of the media.
Lewis, a heavyset man, was led into court shortly after 11:20 a.m. wearing a pair of large, owl-like eyeglasses and an oversize prison outfit.
Jury selection was expected to begin this morning and could last into next week.
Minehart said that 100 potential jurors will be questioned about, among other things, their stances on the death penalty.
Cassidy, 54, was shot in the head after interrupting a robbery at the Dunkin’ Donuts in West Oak Lane, on North Broad Street near 66th Avenue.
Cassidy was doing a routine check of the eatery because it had been robbed the month before. Police believe that Lewis pulled that robbery as well.
Just as Cassidy was about to open the front door, an employee told him that a robbery was under way inside.
With a hand on his pistol, Cassidy opened the door; the robber turned and fired at the officer.
The shooting was captured on store surveillance video.
After shooting Cassidy, Lewis bent down and stole his service revolver, police said.
Cassidy, a police officer for 25 years, died the next day at Albert Einstein Medical Center. His was the first of six police slayings that gripped the city over a 15-month period.
After fleeing on foot, Lewis met up with his cousin, Hakim Glover, who drove him to Delaware and put him on a Greyhound bus to Miami two days after the killing, police said.
Glover has since pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension and obstructing justice. He’s expected to be sentenced after Lewis’ trial.
Lewis was arrested at a Miami homeless shelter Nov. 6, 2007, after an employee saw his picture on a TV news report.
While being led away by police, Lewis implicated himself in front of a throng of reporters and their cameras.
When the reporters asked if he had admitted to killing Cassidy, he replied: “Yes.”
Lewis also told the reporters: “I apologize to his family. I never meant nothing to happen like this, you know, but I can’t change, can’t change it.”
Copyright 2009 Philadelphia Newspapers, LLC