Lawrenceville Attorney Doug Lewis killed by client’s ex-husband
The suspect was the husband of a girl that Legal professional Doug Lewis was representing in the couple’s divorce.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A contentious divorce circumstance led to murder and arson at the regulation places of work of 1 of the divorce lawyers late Wednesday afternoon, in accordance to courtroom documents and law enforcement documents.
Well-liked, beloved Lawrenceville Lawyer Doug Lewis was shot inside his personal legislation places of work, and his offices were being set on fireplace.
It turns out just one of Lewis’s clientele was a woman who had submitted for divorce early past 12 months, and law enforcement explained it was the woman’s spouse who went after Lewis Wednesday.
Lewis’s legislation places of work, in an previous, converted residence alongside Stone Mountain Street in Lawrenceville, have been set on hearth and severely damaged at about 5:00 p.m. Wednesday. Then, within, firefighters observed Lewis’s human body.
“It’s really brazen. It’s type of out of the blue,” Lawrenceville Police Lt. Jake Parker mentioned Thursday.
Lt. Parker stated Lewis was in his regulation workplaces by himself when a gentleman named Allen Tayeh walked in and shot Lewis. Then, Parker reported, investigators consider Tayeh poured gasoline within the workplaces and started out the hearth.
Lewis’s spouse and children, mates and colleagues are in shock and grief.
“I’m going to skip him,” a single of Lewis’s colleagues, Lawyer Phil McCurdy, explained Thursday. “He experienced a wonderful sense of humor and a extremely rapid wit.”
McCurdy said he and Lewis have been adversaries in numerous courtroom cases as properly as co-counsel in some others.
“Doug was a consummate gentleman,” McCurdy mentioned. “I’ve under no circumstances heard him raise his voice, I by no means saw him lose his mood. I hardly ever observed him address any one except with respect… I you should not know any individual who didn’t respect him as a colleague, as a expert, and as a human becoming.”
Lewis and his client in the divorce situation experienced been scheduled to satisfy Tayeh back in court docket subsequent 7 days for a hearing.
Exterior the burning legislation offices on Wednesday, law enforcement said, it was a witness who led them to Tayeh, close by. Tayeh, himself, experienced been burned.
“He did have a firearm on him,” Lt. Parker said, “a revolver that experienced invested cartridges in the cylinders…. And there were fuel cans and an odor of gasoline all around the place as properly.”
Lewis was in regulation observe for 30 several years.
Kristina Weaver bought to know Lewis and his household on the ball fields yrs ago, when all their youngsters were younger.
“I applied to see him in Dacula Park all the time,” Weaver stated, “and he was just the nicest guy. He was the nicest dude…. He is effectively known in the loved ones court docket group, specifically. I believe he generally dealt with divorce scenarios and matters like that…. It’s just genuinely unhappy.”
A near buddy, Jesse Kent, who is a previous regulation associate of Lewis, wrote in an e mail to 11Alive Thursday night time:
“Doug was a committed family members man who cherished his wife and young children. Not often did a working day pass that he failed to point out them or how proud he was of them. Doug was a joy to be all-around he was the regular that all lawyers – including me – aspired to be. His absence was felt the minute he remaining us and the legal job will hardly ever be the same with no him.”
Tayeh is in the beginning becoming charged with two felonies, malice murder and arson.
Lawrenceville law enforcement, Gwinnett County fire detectives and the medical examiner are continue to investigating. So significantly, police claimed the suspect has not produced any statements about any of this.
