Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
A Chester County man was sentenced to decades in prison Thursday, nearly seven years after he tore through the serenity of a Christmas evening in his quiet neighborhood by shooting at SWAT team officers during a nine-hour standoff that ended only after a negotiator sang him a holiday carol. Nathaniel Lewis, 41, will serve 25 to 50 years in state prison for firing more than 30 shots from an AR-15 rifle at members of the Chester County Emergency Response Team who came to his home in East Vincent Township on Christmas Day 2018. Lewis, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, was convicted after a five-day trial in August of assault on a law enforcement officer, attempted aggravated assault and attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for firing at three of the SWAT team members. The jury acquitted him of similar assault charges connected with other members of the team. Judge Alita Rovito, in handing down the sentence Thursday, said that while she accepted Lewis’ recent diagnosis of PTSD and depression, she believed he was fully aware of his actions when he chose to shoot at uniformed police officers. “What I saw that night was someone who was in absolute, complete control,” Rovito said. “So many people’s lives changed that night, and the reason they changed was not anything they did. “They all honored their oaths to protect and serve the community, and that includes you, Mr. Lewis.” Lewis was in the throes of a divorce at the time of the shooting, and fired the first shots at his sister-in-law, who came to check on him after he ignored his family during the holiday. He eventually barricaded himself in his home and sprayed bullets from the second floor as officers surrounded the property. Despite some of Lewis’ shots landing feet from officers stationed outside his home — close enough, some said Thursday, that they could hear the bullets whizzing overhead — no one was injured during the standoff. Lewis only agreed to surrender when a member of the response team capitulated to his request to sing “White Christmas,” specifically the wistful version made popular by Bing Crosby. Chief Deputy District Attorney Michelle Frei said Thursday that given Lewis’ background in the military, he was fully aware of the collateral damage he could have caused. His actions that night, she said, not only affected his intended targets, but also an entire community of innocent bystanders he held hostage for hours. “Mr. Lewis know how far the bullets could travel, and he still opened fire on police in a residential neighborhood, on a night when he knew people would be at home with their families,” she said. Frei said Lewis had betrayed the oath he took as a soldier to protect and serve his country. “Every time he pulled that trigger, it was an attack on our justice system and our sense of law and order, and that cannot be tolerated.” In a statement to the judge, Lewis professed remorse for his actions, and said he had spent the last seven years in prison avoiding trouble and violence, and had become a devout Catholic. “When I run over the catalog of my sins, I cannot believe I was once full of goodness,” he said. “I have lost everything, and I cannot begin my life again. I can only hope to rebuild.” His attorney, Stephen Dodd, challenged the idea from prosecutors that he wasn’t remorseful. He asked Rovito for leniency, saying a lengthy prison sentence would hinder Lewis’ efforts to receive treatment for his mental health issues. But Rovito was not swayed, citing, in part, the lengthy victim-impact testimony presented Thursday. Lewis’ former sister-in-law, Kerri Caranza, said through her tears that though her relationship with her family was strained by the encounter, she was grateful that Lewis had shot at her and not at her sister or nieces, the intended targets. The officers Lewis was convicted of shooting at, including Downingtown Police Detective Paul Trautman, took turns saying said the incident remains fresh in their minds, especially as it gets closer to the Christmas season. Some also served as soldiers in the Middle East, and said Lewis’ gunfire reminded them of firefights overseas. “Mr. Lewis is alive today because of our team’s efforts to resolve this situation peacefully,” Trautman said. “The message needs to be sent that violence is not the way to deal with one’s anger.” Rovito’s sentence was her second in the case: Lewis’ first trial in 2021 was later overturned on appeal, after a Superior Court judge found another county judge had improperly dismissed Lewis’ original attorney for professional misconduct.
