The passenger in a car involved in a 2011wreck that killed an infant today was sentenced to 10 years in prison on criminal trespass and drug-possession charges in which he agreed to testify against the driver, his co-defendant.
Rasahmael Marquise Lewis, 22, offered his plea in return for a deal that sentenced him to spend a year and nine months in jail with the remainder on probation.
Chatham County Superior Court Chief Judge Michael Karpf accepted the plea-sentence which defense attorney James Bryne said would result in Lewis being eligible to leave the Chatham County jail today.
Lewis and Franklin Leonard James, 34, were named in a 25-count indictment stemming from the May 7, 2011, police chase that resulted in their fleeing auto wrecking with another vehicle off Mohawk and Apache avenues.
A passenger in that second car, Andrea Lovett Mann, then 20, was seven months pregnant at the time, Assistant District Attorney Frank Pennington II said. The mother was taken to the hospital where emergency surgery delivered the baby who died several days later, he said.
After the wreck both occupants of the car fled on foot and Lewis entered a nearby house where he attempted to hide before the occupant forced him to leave. That action resulted in the criminal-trespass charge, Pennington said.
Subsequent reviews lead prosecutors to determine that James was the driver, Pennington said.
Charges against James remain pending with a Friday court date scheduled in his case.