Judge: Necrophilia theory could disprove Oakland rape case

OAKLAND — A local rape case is supported by video of the alleged crime and forensic evidence, but prosecutors still have to overcome a potentially major hurdle: disproving a defense theory that the victim died before intercourse took place.

If prosecutors can’t prove it, 77-year-old Lester Lewis may be entitled to an acquittal. He is charged with sexually assaulting a woman in August 2024, as she lay dying at his Oakland apartment of a suspected drug overdose. After realizing she had died, Lewis allegedly dragged the woman outside to a stairwell, left her there, then told police a bogus story about how he had discovered her body, according to court records.

But at Lewis’ Dec. 28 preliminary hearing, Judge Thomas Stevens identified the potential snag in the case. While he upheld the charge — based on the relatively low legal bar of probable cause — Stevens noted that if the case goes to trial, prosecutors must establish exactly when she died.

There were two videos found on Lewis’ phone that prosecutors admitted as evidence. In one of them, Lewis can be seen slapping the woman who exhibits signs of “labored breathing,” Stevens said. In the second, she is seen “deceased.” Neither video establishes exactly when “intercourse” took place, the judge said.

“There was intercourse we just don’t know if she was alive,” Stevens said. “We couldn’t tell.”

Lewis allegedly wrote sexually explicit things on the woman’s thighs, and slapped and burned her as she lay dying in his apartment, according to Oakland police.

This prosecution has already had its fair share of twists and turns. The defense has tried, and thus far failed, to throw out the search of Lewis’ phone based on allegations police violated his Fourth Amendment rights.

Months after his 2024 arrest, Lewis was released from jail based on a defense proffer that he was terminally ill and likely to die. When Lewis’ death didn’t occur, prosecutors successfully moved to return him to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, where he has remained since last Oct. 27, court records show.

Lewis’ trial date has not yet been set. He is next due in court on March 12.