“I have faith in you.”
With those words, Denver District Judge Christina Habas – a tough, no-nonsense judge – gave Peter Nicholas Lewis a vote of confidence she hopes will successfully carry him through his first eight months of prison.
“You are an impressive young man,” Habas told the soft-spoken Lewis, whose passion is art. “You are bright.”
Lewis, 21, is the man who broke into Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman’s home on Nov. 8.
A .38 pistol in Whitman’s lockbox, two electric guitars, a laptop computer, a cellular phone and about $200 in coins were stolen.
Lewis had been in legal trouble as a juvenile. He was also accused of an Aug. 9 burglary in Denver, in addition to the Whitman burglary.
In return for pleading guilty to a count of felony burglary in the Whitman break-in, the Denver district attorney’s office dropped the second burglary case.
Habas could have sentenced Lewis to a maximum of 12 years in prison.
But she said that she wanted to give Lewis “a shot” at turning his life around.
While giving him a sentence of 6 years in prison, she recommended that the first eight months of that prison time be in a boot camp.
If he does well there, she said, she will reconsider his sentence on Dec. 11, about the time he should graduate from the camp.
Lewis, who attended the Denver School of Art for three months, brought some of his art to the courtroom to show the judge what he can do and where he hopes to go with his life.
When Habas told him he was very talented, Lewis softly responded, “Thank you.”
Then Lewis apologized to his family and the community for the problems he caused.
“I know I have done wrong. I did wrong, I did the wrong thing,” Lewis said. “I didn’t mean to go out there and do wrong. I’m not a bad person. I’m a loving father. I can prove I’m a good man. I can show I can do things that are right.”
Both Habas and prosecutor Tom Clinton said the fact that it was Whitman who was victimized didn’t enter into their decisions in the case, that Lewis was being treated like anyone else in the situation.
Clinton, in fact, left the sentencing completely up to Habas.
Habas said she was aware who the victim was but said “that means nothing to me.”
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
