Man accused of MSU sexual assault has prior rape conviction
A Houston man accused of attacking a woman on the MSU Texas campus is already a lifetime registered sexual offender, according to court and Texas Department of Public Safety records.
No trial date has been set in 78th District Court yet for Shawn Quinton Lewis, 29, who was previously convicted of rape in another state.
Lewis was free Wednesday from the Wichita County Law Enforcement Center on a $200,000 bond, according to online jail records.
He was convicted of rape in the second degree in Missouri, according to the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry maintained by the Department of Public Safety.
The victim in the Missouri rape was a 21-year-old woman, according to the DPS online registry. The case was disposed of March 14, 2016.
In Wichita County, Lewis is charged with sexual assault in connection with a Nov. 1, 2020, incident in Midwestern State University campus housing, court records show. He has entered a not guilty plea.
The offense is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty.
The defense made motions in anticipation of a trial for Lewis, and 78th District Judge Meredith Kennedy granted a series of defense requests April 6, court records show.
Wichita County Assistant Public Defender Jarret Knoll asked for a list of the state's witnesses, their statements, all of the defendant's audio and video statements, and other trial information from First Assistant District Attorney Dobie Kosub.
A Wichita County grand jury handed down an indictment for the sexual assault charge against Lewis on July 8, 2021, court records show.
About a year ago, the victim asked the Wichita County DA's Office to not prosecute Lewis, according to court records.
She filed an affidavit of non-prosecution April 6, 2022, asking for the charge against him to be dismissed and saying she did not want to testify for the case, court documents show.
An MSU police affidavit details the allegations against Lewis and the basis for probable cause for a judge to issue an arrest warrant.
On Nov. 1, 2020, the victim told police she and two friends were sitting in her room at Sunwatcher Village apartments on the Midwestern State University Campus, according to allegations in an affidavit.
They had been out having drinks earlier in the evening with three male acquaintances, and she left her room to see who else was there, according to allegations in court documents. She saw Lewis passed out on her roommate's bed.
He woke up when she went in to check on him and asked her for sex, according to allegations in the affidavit. He then sexually assaulted her, trying to close the door and blocking her way out of the room.
The woman struggled, pushed her way out of the room and ran back to her own room, according to allegations in court documents. She told her friends what Lewis had done, and they took her to her boyfriend's apartment and called police.
Lewis was visiting the MSU campus with friends, according to allegations in court documents.
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Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Read her recent work here. Her Twitter handle is @Trishapedia.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Houston man accused of MSU sexual assault has prior rape conviction
