Closing arguments expected in attempted murder trial
By Gary Popp
Published in News on February 17, 2011 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MICHAEL K. DAKOTA
Defendant Mack Lewis is questioned by his attorney, Charles Gurley, while showing the jury a scar he claimed was the result of his girlfriend cutting him.
Closing statements were expected this morning in the trial of Mack Recardo Lewis, which has the 27-year-old Rocky Mount man facing charges of attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
Lewis took the witness stand Wednesday to defend himself against accusations that he broke into the home of former girlfriend Gloria Peacock and stabbed her multiple times on Nov. 9, 2009.
Mrs. Peacock, 26, is a mother of five children, the two youngest of whom were fathered by Lewis. She was the first witness called to the stand and was questioned by both Assistant District Attorney Paige Rouse and Lewis' attorney, Charles Gurley.
Lewis and Mrs. Peacock provided differing accounts of what happened. After the incident, Mrs. Peacock was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital with puncture wounds to her stomach and back and cuts to her arm and hands.
Mrs. Peacock claims that Lewis forcefully entered her mobile home on Parks Road, for which he is facing another charge of first-degree burglary, and made a beeline for a bedroom doorway, where he began to attack her with a knife that he brought with him.
Mrs. Peacock, who had married another man while Lewis was incarcerated for a sexual offense, testified that that Lewis told her "If I can't have you no one can" before stabbing her twice in the stomach and leaving.
Lewis claims he entered the home after one of their children opened the door. Once inside, Lewis said he saw Mrs. Peacock standing in a doorway leading to a bedroom already holding a butcher knife.
Lewis said that as he approached her, he picked up a knife from the kitchen counter.
He said Mrs. Peacock began to insult him because she was upset because of his relationships with other women. Lewis said that Mrs. Peacock then hugged him and cut him on his upper arm during the embrace.
While on the witness stand, Lewis showed the court his arm and the scar over a Jesus Christ tattoo that he said came from the cut.
Both testified that a wrestling match ensued that involved several knives. The fight took place near the bedroom doorway, they both said, and that the children were present during the altercation.
Evidence in the case has included photographs of a heavily blood-spotted kitchen floor, a shirt worn by Mrs. Peacock the night of the incident that was covered in blood turned a dull brown and the knives that were taken from the scene by law enforcement officers.
Superior Court Judge Arnold Jones is presiding over the case.