Death penalty waived for suspect in 3 slayings

HOT SPRINGS — Prosecutors have waived the death penalty as a sentencing option for a Hot Springs man charged with fatally shooting a man and two women in 2017, according to court documents.

Nicholas Matthew Lewondowski, 35, who has remained in custody on zero bond since his arrest Dec. 6, 2017, is scheduled to stand trial April 22 in Garland County Circuit Court. He now faces up to life in prison on each count.

Lewondowski pleaded innocent March 6, 2018, to three counts of capital murder in the deaths of Paul D. Power, 40, Dory Ann Power, 46, and Brenda Sue Lawson, 60, all of Hot Springs. Their bodies were found Dec. 5, 2017, inside a residence at 208 Nevada St. A gag order limiting pretrial publicity in the case was previously issued by Judge Marcia Hearnsberger.

Court-appointed attorney Mark Fraiser filed multiple motions April 30, 2018, including ones to prohibit the jury from being “death qualified,” where jurors could be stricken if they could not consider imposing the death penalty, to quash the felony information due to the death penalty being “cruel and unusual punishment” and therefore unconstitutional, and to quash it because the aggravating circumstances necessary to justify the death penalty are “vague and overbroad on their face.”

The state moved to withdraw the death penalty Feb. 5, so the motions were moot and Fraiser withdrew them.

The state had filed a motion for a mental evaluation of Lewondowski on Sept. 14, 2018, which was granted by Hearnsberger on Sept. 17. The evaluation was conducted Nov. 27, 2018, and the findings were presented at a hearing Jan. 15 and Lewondowski was ruled fit to proceed with trial.

According to the probable-cause affidavit on the murder charges, police met with a witness Dec. 5, 2017, who told them that a friend, identified as Lewondowski, had visited him the night before at his residence. Lewondowski had three friends with him whom the witness knew only as Dori, Brenda and Paul.

While there, Lewondowski and the three friends got into an argument about one of them stealing property from someone else in the group, according to the affidavit. The witness said Lewondowski became “agitated” with all three and they left and went to what the witness believed was Lawson’s residence on Nevada Street.

Lewondowski returned to the witness’ residence Dec. 5 and told him he had killed the three people and needed the witness’ help, the affidavit said. The witness told police he went with Lewondowski to the Nevada Street residence and helped him move some vehicles to different locations, according to the affidavit. He said Lewondowski told him he “would probably need help disposing of the bodies later” and “they would probably just burn the residence down.”

Based on the witness’ statement, officers responded to 208 Nevada and found the three deceased victims inside “laying in pools of blood.” According to documents filed in the case, all three bodies had “multiple gunshot wounds.”