By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TRENTON – An ex-con will be sentenced Friday and face up to 20 years in prison for assaulting and stealing $40 from an elderly woman who tried to help him.
Edward Lee Lewis, 58, pleaded guilty on Dec. 7 to charges of first-degree home invasion and assault. Lewis was arrested in July after he entered a house in the 2200 block of Greenwood Street and confronted the 82-year-old homeowner.
The elderly woman assisted Lewis beginning in May 2011 when he was released from prison after 24 years. Lewis was convicted of homicide in 1987. Along with a possible 20 years each for two felonies, Lewis faces sentencing Friday as an habitual offender.
Trenton police reported in July that Lewis entered the woman’s home through a rear door wall, demanded money and threw her to the floor. He ripped the phone out of the wall when she tried to call 911. The woman gave Lewis $40 and he left.
Police located Lewis the next day, and he remained in custody pending a scheduled jury trial.
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected])