Lewis
A Greenwood man facing high-level child molestation and rape charges is making moves to withdraw his guilty plea.
Marthan Christian Lewis, 27, made a verbal motion to withdraw the guilty plea before Johnson County Circuit Court Judge Andy Roesener on Thursday. He had previously pled guilty to child molesting, a Level 1 felony, and rape, a Level 3 felony, on June 13.
The motion to withdraw a guilty plea is required to be in writing per Indiana law, Roesener said. Now, he is set for a hearing on the motion to withdraw the plea on Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. Lewis remains in custody at the Johnson County jail.
Dorie Maryan, Lewis’ attorney, explained that because Lewis had notified her of his intent to withdraw the plea two days earlier while she was in the midst of prepping for a jury trial in a separate case, she was unable to have a written motion prepared for Thursday.
Lewis has gone back and forth on whether to withdraw the guilty plea, Maryan told Roesener and Johnson County Deputy Prosecutor Ryan Bland. He ultimately requested to withdraw it because he didn’t understand the written agreement, along with what occurred during the plea hearing that took place in June, she said.
Lewis wanted to make an argument as to why the motion should be withdrawn on Thursday. However, Roesener suggested it would be better for Lewis’ attorney to file the written motion and have Lewis speak during the hearing on the motion in November.
This is not the first time Lewis has attempted to withdraw the guilty plea. On July 6, he filed a motion on his own behalf to withdraw the agreement, however, because he was represented by an attorney, the motion represented split representation, which is prohibited. The motion was denied, according to online court records.
Charges were filed against Lewis in May 2021 after a young girl allegedly told a family member that he had just raped her at a Greenwood apartment in June 2020. The girl allegedly said he stopped when someone else entered the apartment, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Lewis allegedly then told her to go into the bathroom. The girl said she locked the bathroom door behind her. At the time of the incident, she could not get away from Lewis and she was scared, the affidavit says.
The family member took the victim to Community Hospital South, and she was transported to Riley Hospital for Children’s Pediatric Center of Hope due to her age, according to the affidavit.
Then, in January 2021, another person reported Lewis had raped her at a Greenwood apartment during the same month. That person said the rape caused her pain, the affidavit shows.
She told police Lewis allegedly threatened to hurt her if she told anyone about what happened, and she thought that meant he would kill her, according to the affidavit.
Greenwood detectives interviewed Lewis in June 2020 at the Greenwood Police Department. He told them he had just been released from prison and was staying in Greenwood briefly before moving back to Kokomo, the affidavit said.
He denied touching the first victim inappropriately or raping her, and refused a DNA swab, according to the affidavit.
In January 2021, after the second victim reported she was raped, police served a search warrant on Lewis at the Howard County Probation Office, and collected a DNA sample, the affidavit shows.
DNA evidence supported the first victim’s claims that Lewis had raped her, according to the affidavit.
