Death penalty hearing delayed for cop killer

Convicted cop killer John "Jordan" Lewis will have to wait at least another day to learn if a Philadelphia jury will sentence him to life in prison without parole or death.

That decision could have been made today, after defense and prosecution attorneys delivered their closing remarks in the penalty phase of Lewis' capital murder trial. But today's court session was canceled to allow Bernard Siegel, one of Lewis' two attorneys, to attend the funeral of one of his former law partners, Assistant District Attorney Edward Cameron told the Daily News. The jury of eight women and four men are expected to hear closing arguments and begin deliberating on Lewis' fate tomorrow.

The 23-year-old North Philadelphia man was found guilty last week of first-degree murder in the Oct. 31, 2007 slaying of Philadelphia Police Officer Chuck Cassidy. The 54-year-old husband and father of three was making a routine check on a West Oak Lane Dunkin' Donuts when he stumbled onto a robbery Lewis was committing at the store. Cassidy opened the glass front door and drew his gun but was not able to fire before Lewis fired a hollow-point bullet into his forehead. Cassidy, a 25-year veteran of the police force, died the next day.

On Friday Siegel asked the jury to spare Lewis' life because he was 21 years of age at the time of the murder and had a troubled upbringing.

Lewis' mother, grandmother and sister begged the jury not to sentence him to death. They said they had no idea that he had robbed five businesses in the fall of 2007 leading up to the sixth and final robbery during which he killed the officer.

They told the jury that Lewis never had a strong male role model in his life since his father was murdered when he was 5 years old. The defendant's mother, Lynn Dyches said that she gave birth to Lewis at age 16 and had two more children by age 19. By his teen years, Lewis started to rebel and she kicked him out of her home when he was 17. "John wanted to do what John wanted to do," Dyches, a Philadelphia prison correctional officer told the court.

If Lewis is sentenced to death, he will be the 14th man on Pennsylvania's death row for murdering a law enforcement officer in the state, according to the state Department of Corrections. Six of those men have been condemned for murdering Philadelphia officers. There are a total of 221 inmates on death row. Lewis would make 222.