Charges dropped against teenager

COLUMBUS (AP) — A prosecutor dropped charges Thursday against an Ohio teenager accused of fatally shooting his identical twin after tests cast doubt on the key piece of evidence — a palm print that was believed to have been cast in blood.

Prosecutor Ron O’Brien of Franklin County Common Pleas Court said tests show that the print of defendant Derris Lewis’ palm found in the bedroom where the January 2008 shooting happened was not bloody, after all.

The print was on the wall before the slaying, something Lewis’ attorney had long argued. Lewis and his brother, Dennis, shared the bedroom for four years, and Derris Lewis’ bed sat just under where his palm print was found.

O’Brien said he would reopen the case if evidence emerged implicating Lewis or anyone else.

“But at the present time I have no reason to believe, as shown by the evidence, that he was involved,” he said.

Lewis, 19, celebrated with his family at his mother’s house after his release from the Franklin County jail.

“I’m still standing, and I have to move on, and I can finally grieve over my brother because we were really, really, really close,” he said.

Lewis said he plans to enroll this fall at Ohio State University, where he was previously accepted, to study business. He said he has no idea who killed his brother.

Prosecutors had the palm print tested after two Columbus police experts gave conflicting testimony about the print and whether it was in a bloodstained area of the wall.

When the test, completed Thursday, found no blood, O’Brien said he had no choice but to drop the charges.

“Our mission in life, unlike most lawyers, civil or criminal, is to find out what the true facts are and whether it helps our case, whether it hurts our case, to pursue the truth of the underlying facts and charges,” O’Brien said.

Lewis had pleaded innocent to aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping in the death of his brother in a robbery at their mother’s house in Columbus.

Prosecutors alleged that Dennis Lewis died in a fight with his brother, possibly over money Dennis was saving for a car.

Police said they believed Derris acted alone but didn’t say why they believe he killed his brother.

Both brothers, high school seniors at the time, were active in sports, band and theater.

Friends, family and teachers described them as best friends, like peas in a pod. Derris gave interviews shortly after his brother’s death saying he forgave Dennis’ killer.

Derris was arrested about a month after the killing.

Prosecutors said fingerprints and the bloody palm print linked Derris to the crime. They also implied he returned to the home days later and pretended to find $283 in cash in an envelope in his brother’s bedroom.

Police have said they thoroughly searched the home the day of the shooting and never saw such an envelope.

The defense says Derris Lewis was sleeping in his apartment miles from the slaying, and three witnesses testified he was home at the time.

The defense also identified an alternate suspect and said police had not ruled out the suspect’s gun as the murder weapon.