Man convicted in 1999 deaths of 2 Fort Wayne teens

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A jury has convicted a man who spent much of the past decade in the Arizona prison system of being involved in the 1999 shooting deaths of two Fort Wayne teenagers.

The Allen County jury reached the verdict Wednesday against Roderick Lewis on charges of felony murder and robbery in the attack that killed 16-year-old Richard Rogers and 14-year-old Sydney Wilson.

Defense attorney Jeff Raff admitted that Lewis and two other men intended to rob the teenagers who sold crack cocaine, but argued that the other men shot the teens. The Journal Gazette reports that the two other men were named in court but haven’t been charged.

Deputy Prosecutor Steve Godfrey maintained that Lewis is responsible for the attack’s consequences because he brought a gun used in the shootings.