Judge Ben Lewis looks back on career, legacy as he retires from position in 32nd Circuit

Judge Judge Benjamin Lewis of the 32nd Circuit Court is looking back at his career and his legacy as he prepares to retire at the end of December.

Lewis said he doesn't see one case or judgment as the biggest achievement in his career. He said his job is like "emptying out the ocean with a teacup".

Lewis said he just tries to take a deep breath and make the right decision for the right reason while working away at a stack of cases. He said he also took a small part in the new Cape Girardeau County Courthouse being built, he just tries to do his job every day.

Lewis, 69, graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 1977 with a bachelor's degree, and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1980. He was first elected to the 32nd Circuit Court in 2004.

While not necessarily pointing them out as achievements, Lewis said he had some of the most "high-profile" cases in Cape Girardeau County. He said receiving those wasn't because he "deserved" them but described them as the "luck of the draw".

Lewis said he presided over the Timothy Krajcir serial killer case among other cases.

"I had Clay Waller, who killed the mother of his triplets and then buried her body across the Mississippi River," he said. "The George Joseph trial, where he was running a pyramid scheme, and rather than be embarrassed in front of his wife and son, killed them both in their sleep and then attempted to commit suicide. I had, on the civil side, I had the Jackson High School Construction cases, which went on for years and years."

He said when he finished with some of those cases he would be pointed out by people while going to a fast food restaurant. Lewis described that feeling of being noticed as not enjoyable.

"Laboring in obscurity is just fine with me," he said.

When Lewis spoke about some of the challenges he faced in his career, he said the difficult moments didn't come when he was delivering a sentence to a "monster" but when the judgment became very "close".

"We can't put everybody in prison that's found guilty, that pleads guilty to a felony, because we've got more felony cases every year than we have beds in the Department of Corrections," Lewis said. "Most of the people don't stay in the Department of Corrections, but it's still a really unpleasant place, and it's still really disruptive to people's lives. So who is this one person? Does he really pose a risk to society? Does he really need to be punished that badly, or can I take a chance and put him on probation?"

Lewis said he also faced these "close" judgments when he was on domestic cases such as people fighting over children. He said the worst possible case in those situations is a "contested adoption".

He said in the case of contested adoption it's usually two sides fighting over just one child.

"It's winner take all. OK, somebody is going to end up with that kid, and somebody is never going to have any parental rights to that kid ever," Lewis said.

He said some of the changes he has seen in the legal system as judge is that there has been more emphasis on not keeping people in jail during pre-trial detention and also not keeping people in the Department of Corrections to serve out their sentences.

Lewis said he has also seen more "adequate" funding provided for the public defender system. He described the funding for public defenders as a "crisis" before legislators recognized the financial burden on counties.

Lewis said that while he has seen changes in the legal system, his judicial philosophy hasn't changed much since starting his career. He said he tends to make the same decision each time.

Lewis did describe a case in which the state had amended a DWI law where a suspect could have their blood drawn "involuntarily". He said he ruled over a case where the state Highway Patrol had taken a person to the hospital where they had a DWI suspect's blood drawn without a warrant.

"I ruled that you can't do that without a search warrant from a judge, probable cause to invade that person's body, to draw the blood out," Lewis said.

He said his decision was reversed by the Eastern District Court of Appeals then sent to the Missouri Supreme Court, which affirmed his decision. Lewis said after it had been affirmed, there was a conflict among states about what the law was regarding his decision.

He said the U.S. Supreme Court decided on the issue regarding the law, ruling that the Fourth Amendment requires a search warrant before you can invade someone's body and draw their blood involuntarily.

Lewis said he plans on serving as a senior judge after he retires.