After apology, contempt charges dropped against daughter of former Geneva doctor guilty of rape
After receiving an apology, Kane County prosecutors on Friday dismissed contempt of court charges against the daughter of a former Geneva doctor who was convicted of a 2012 sexual assault of a party guest at his former St. Charles house.
Alesha Lewis, 27, of St. Charles, was accused of confronting a prosecutor in a hallway during the September trial of her father, Mark G. Lewis, and making obvious nodding motions while her dad testified in his own defense.
Earlier in the trial, Alesha Lewis was warned by Kane County Judge John Barsanti to have no contact with the victim in the case. After the victim testified in the trial that everything went "blank" after Mark Lewis mixed her a whiskey drink and that she later woke up naked from the waist down with a shirtless Lewis next to her, Alesha Lewis approached the victim in the hallway during a recess, paused and glared at her.
The victim could be heard crying in the hallway. Prosecutors wanted Alesha Lewis removed from the courthouse, but instead she was warned by Barsanti.
Later, during a recess in the trial, Lewis approached a prosecutor in the hallway, stopped and stared at him and asked if he was "nervous."
Friday, Alesha Lewis told Kane County Judge David Kliment that she was "genuinely sorry" and should have been better prepared to control her emotions.
"I in no way intended to influence the outcome of the case," she said.
Kliment said Lewis' conduct was unacceptable and could have been construed as witness intimidation, a crime that carries a sentence of up to six months in jail.
"It's a difficult situation for anyone to be in," Kliment said. "Just leave if you can't take it."
Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Joe Cullen told Kliment that prosecutors didn't condone Lewis' actions but were voluntarily dismissing the case.
Mark Lewis, 60, was convicted of criminal sexual assault and was sentenced in December to eight years in prison. Lewis also served half of an eight-year prison term after pleading guilty to a 2015 arrest and subsequent conviction for a large, sophisticated indoor marijuana farm set up in his St. Charles house.