A man convicted in the 1997 slaying of a 30-year-old woman in Van Buren and given life in prison without the possibility of parole may have just squeezed through a loophole provided to him by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could affect as many as 2,500 similar cases nationwide.
Tony Ray, who killed Lisa Lewis on June 24, 1997, received a life sentence as a 16-year-old juvenile and barely escaped the death penalty at his original trial. In March 2017, Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed into law ACT 539 which made Arkansas law in compliance with Miller v. Alabama by retroactively sentencing defendant’s like Tony Ray to lIfe in prison, with the possibility of parole after serving 30 years.
On Wednesday, Judge Gary Cottrell re-sentenced Ray to life in prison pursuant to ACT 539 of 2017.
Crawford County prosecutor says it is now a game of wait-and-see as the situation plays itself out in the courts.
“Now we will wait and see if the Arkansas Supreme Court will uphold ACT 539 or find it unconstitutional,” said McCune. “A judge in Washington County ruled like Judge Cottrell, but one or two judges in Pulaski County found the Act unconstitutional.”
Ray remains in the Varner Unit of the ADC in Gould on the murder charge plus theft of property and 2nd degree escape convictions.
Ray will have to serve at least 10 more years before he becomes parole eligible, but the entire ordeal is a strain on the families.
“The families need closure,” McCune said.
On June 24, 1997, Van Buren police officers were called to the home of Lisa Lewis. Upon their arrival, officers found her in the living room dying of gunshot wounds.
Down the hall, a trail of blood led to the master bedroom where blood and bullet holes were found. In another bedroom, the officers located a gun cabinet with a shattered glass door and six or seven loaded guns lying on the bed.
The sliding glass door entering the home from the carport was shattered, and Lewis’s vehicle was missing. Lewis was transported to the hospital where she died later that same day.
Det. Mick Molnar of the Van Buren Police Department interviewed Ray regarding the murder of Lewis. Before the questioning began, Detective Molnar gave appellant the same Miranda rights as given to adults.
Ray asked to speak with his father, but Molnar told him he could not talk to his father until after the interview. During the interview, Ray confessed that he had killed Lewis.
Ray stated that stated that he and another person, later identified as Michal Hingston, broke into Lewis’s home because he wanted to steal her car. He and Hingston were in Lewis’s home for a couple of hours and shot items in her living room with air guns before she arrived home.
Upon her arrival, Ray took Lewis into the master bedroom where he shot her with a shotgun, left the room and returned with a .410 shotgun where he found Lewis reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
Ray shot Lewis with the .410 shotgun, reloaded the gun, and shot her again.
Ray and Hingston then left in Lewis’s car.
On June 25, 1997, Ray was charged as an adult in circuit court with capital murder, burglary, and theft of property. Ray subsequently filed a motion requesting that his case be transferred to juvenile court, and a hearing was held on this motion.
At the transfer hearing, testimony was presented that RY had received five disciplinary actions in school and was an average student.
Evidence was presented that Ray was very active in his church. Over Ray’s objection, the State presented testimony that the appellant was found in possession of a stolen vehicle and had pending against him three counts of theft of property for stealing vehicles.
Ray’s confession to Lewis’s murder was also admitted over his objection.
Linda Westover, an employee of the Crawford County Detention Center, testified that she overheard the Ray say that he enjoyed “killing the bitch,” that he was looking forward to killing again but next time he would rape the victim. Ray added that it was fun watching her say the Lord’s Prayer and shooting her, and that it was all over too fast and it would be more fun next time.
The circuit court denied Ray’s motion to transfer. The court ruled the law did not require that Ray be given the benefit of juvenile rights because he is charged as an adult.
The court also held that evidence of pending charges against the defendant was admissible because it relates to the defendant’s character.
Those events kicked off a protracted legal battle, which resulted in an appeal that was denied in the Arkansas Court of Appeals in 1999.
Now, because of a ruling in another state and pending the Constitutionality of the Supreme Court Decision, Ray could become eligible for parole consideration in 2027.