COLUMBUS, Ohio — *EDITOR'S NOTE: The above video is from our previous coverage of this story.
Deonte Lewis, one of two people convicted in the 2018 murder of Euclid's Aniya Day-Garrett, will remain behind bars.
The Supreme Court of Ohio on Wednesday declined to accept jurisdictional authority in Lewis' case. The court issued its decision in a one-line statement signed by Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor.
Lewis and Anyia's mother Sierra Day were both convicted in 2019 of multiple charges connected to the 4-year-old's death, including aggravated murder. Day was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, while Lewis also received a life sentence but can apply for release after 20 years.
Aniya died of a stroke nearly four years after suffering several blows to the head, and the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner later found her to be emaciated and malnourished with bruises and burns on her body. Authorities claimed she had been abused as far back as 2015, and a local day care center as well as children's services were severely admonished for not doing enough to protect her.
While prosecutors pointed the finger at Day as the main culprit, Lewis was also cited for allegedly standing back and allowing the abuse to occur. At sentencing, he asserted he "loved" Aniya and "did not hurt her."
While a majority of justices on the Ohio Supreme Court technically wanted to hear the appeal, they could not agree on which propositions of law to do so, and therefore were forced to pass on the case. All three Democratic justices said they would have accepted the appeal based on at least the second or third propositions, while Republican Justice Patrick F. Fischer would've heard arguments based on the first.
In a scathing dissenting opinion, Justice Michael P. Donnelly called the case itself "tragic," but warned that it was "possible" that the court "is making this tragic situation even worse by permitting the conviction and imprisonment of a man who did not cause [Aniya's] death." He wrote that "no evidence suggests that Lewis abused [Aniya]," although he did admit it was "also clear that he did not do anything to help" her.
"There is nothing admirable about Deonte Lewis's behavior in this case," Donnelly said, with Justice Melody J. Stewart also signing on to the opinion. "At a minimum, he acted with extreme callousness. But it is unclear to me whether he purposely caused [Aniya's] death through his inactions, and this court should examine the issue and provide guidance to lower courts that will address similar issues in the future."
For now, Lewis and Day both remain incarcerated at the Lorain Correctional Institute.
