Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells has decided to seek the death penalty for a man who is accused of taking a 31-year-old fast food restaurant coworker behind a Fort Worth dumpster, shooting him, then dragging the body of the man, who had a cognitive disability, into the woods.
Gregory Lewis was indicted on July 10 on capital murder in the death, in April, of Thomas King. Lewis had previously taken advantage of King’s kind nature and limited mental capabilities, King’s relatives have said.
Lewis and King worked at Taco Casa, a restaurant near Interstate 30 and East Loop 820.
Detectives believe Lewis, 35, killed King intending to steal his Hyundai Sonata.
The district attorney’s office filed a notice of its intent on July 23. The office does not typically announce such decisions with a press statement. The Star-Telegram this week learned of the decision during a review of district clerk’s office records.
The district attorney’s office death penalty committee reviews capital murder cases in advance of Sorrells’ decisions on the punishment the office will pursue. Since taking office in 2023, he has sought the death penalty in about 7% of the eligible cases the office has filed. Sorrells, a Republican, is running for a second term in the general election in November.
When the state waives the death penalty, a defendant who is found guilty of capital murder is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In an interview with two detectives, Lewis said he received a ride from King after work on April 13 and that the two men drove to the corner of a business complex about two miles away, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Lewis confessed to shooting King to death, according to the affidavit.
Lewis returned in King’s car to a motel in Arlington. Lewis said that he had used the handgun that police found in his motel room to shoot King, according to the affidavit.
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Emerson Clarridge covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He works days and reports on law enforcement affairs in Tarrant County. He previously was a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.