“How can somebody help commit a murder and people praise him for playing a game?” said Faye Lollar, Richard’s aunt, who attended the trial in Atlanta. “They’re chanting and giving him the glory. For what? I believe he was involved with it just as much as everybody else.”
Lewis admitted that he lied to police officers when they originally questioned him. He refused to give up the names of those at the grisly scene, hindering the investigation from the start.
The cream-colored suit Lewis described wearing that night – not white as commonly reported – never has been found. He claimed to have forgotten what happened to it. Baker’s blood was found in the Lincoln Navigator limousine Lewis had rented to drive from Baltimore to Atlanta, and investigators believed they would have found more blood on Lewis’ clothes.
As for the street fight, Lewis insisted he was a peacemaker who tried to usher his friends into the limousine so they could drive away.
Witnesses gave police statements that incriminated Lewis, but during the trial, their testimonies became vague.
Limousine driver Duane Fassett told police he saw Lewis punch one of the victims, but testified Lewis only drew a fist and didn’t actually strike anyone.
Jeff Gwen, an aspiring rapper friend of Baker and Lollar, told police he saw Lewis remove an expensive necklace before joining the fray and throwing punches. But at the trial, Gwen stated that Lewis merely held onto somebody to help quell the scene.
Chester Anderson, a convict who claimed to be a witness, testified that he saw Lewis kick a man who was on the ground. The jury didn’t find Anderson credible.
The jury returned not-guilty verdicts after five hours of deliberating. Five jurors spoke to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the trial and revealed their frustrations about the case.
Multiple jurors said they wanted to convict, but the way the indictment was written limited their ability to find guilt and District Attorney Paul Howard didn’t deliver evidence promised in his opening remarks.
“Everybody walked,” Wilson said. “But you know what we did? We brought Jacinth home, and we buried him.
