Hundreds of pages of court documents obtained by NBC10 are shedding new light on a Philadelphia murder investigation that ended in an acquittal and is now fueling a public dispute between the city’s top law enforcement officials.
The case centers on Eric Lewis, who was acquitted in the 2019 shooting death of Christopher Williams. Lewis is now facing murder charges in the killing of Philadelphia Police Sgt. Shane Seiber earlier this month.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel have publicly clashed over the handling of the earlier investigation, with Krasner blaming flawed police work for the acquittal.
“The truth is that acquittal was the direct result of one of the worst investigations that I have seen in nearly 40 years of criminal practice,” Krasner said.
Bethel quickly pushed back against Krasner’s criticism.
“We fight behind the scenes all the time, but we never bring that to the forefront, particularly in a time like that. So, it was absolutely unacceptable,” Bethel said.
More than 200 pages of court transcripts obtained by NBC10 reveal investigative issues in the Williams murder case, including questions about cellphone records that were never obtained.
Cellphone records can be used by prosecutors to help connect a defendant to the scene of a crime. But according to the transcripts, that evidence was never collected in Lewis’ case.
During court proceedings, Lewis’ defense attorney pointed out that “detectives were going to obtain cell phone records — the call details and such – for the defendant’s cell phones.”
The attorney went on to explain that he had been advised “there was never a warrant requested or obtained to get the information.”
The judge later confirmed in court that prosecutors had never obtained those records.
The missing evidence raises questions about how the investigation was handled and whether the oversight should have been identified before the case went to trial.
The documents obtained by NBC10 offer only a snapshot of the larger investigation and the decisions made before Lewis went to trial.
Krasner has pointed to the Philadelphia Police Department’s handling of the investigation as the reason the case ended in an acquittal.
But other prosecutors told NBC10 that the district attorney’s office also has a responsibility to identify investigative gaps and address problems while building a case.
That includes ensuring important evidence, such as cellphone records, is obtained before a case goes to trial.
The revelations are adding to the public disagreement between Krasner and Bethel as Lewis faces a new murder charge in the death of Officer Seiber.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.
