Victim says ex-husband ‘beat me within an inch of my life’

EVERETT — A Lynnwood man was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for repeatedly beating his wife, who was trying to divorce him.

A jury convicted Kevin Lewis, 31, in November of two counts of aggravated second-degree assault. The attacks were part of a pattern that Judge Bruce Weiss called “textbook domestic violence,” with Lewis constantly trying to assert power and intimidate his wife.

The assault case is separate from an investigation into the unsolved killing of the woman’s sister in September 2017.

At the sentencing, the woman said she believes the man who shot her sister was Lewis, and that the bullets were meant for her.

Lewis has not been arrested or charged in connection with the death.

“I know this is not a murder trial, but I cannot separate the two,” the woman said.

The judge said he didn’t consider the shooting when he decided Lewis’ sentence for assault.

The woman who was beaten had clearly suffered, physically and psychologically, he said.

The first assault documented in the case happened in November 2016, while they were still living together.

He trapped her in the closet, demanding to look at her phone. He punched her in the face when she refused. Then he punched her two more times after he scrolled through her texts. Her face was bloodied, bruised and swollen. Several of her teeth were broken.

The violence escalated in June 2017. Lewis called the woman and threatened to kill her if she didn’t move back in with him. Two days later, he showed up at her house, banging on the door and trying to force his way inside.

Then, on June 22, 2017, he ambushed her outside her house. He attacked her as she tried to get out of her car, hitting her several times. The woman fought him, she said, but she got dizzy and started losing consciousness. She could barely make the call to 911.

Deputies found her still in the car, her eyebrow split open and blood on her face. She also complained of pain in her forearms and legs.

“He beat me within an inch of my life,” she said in court Tuesday.

The woman has permanent nerve damage in her face, she said, and she continues to deal with dental repairs. For months, she couldn’t pick up her kids or lift anything more than two pounds. She had to get cosmetic reconstruction on her eyebrow.

The homicide happened Sept. 20, 2017. Alisha Canales-McGuire, 24, was babysitting her sister’s three children at a duplex south of Everett when she heard someone knock on the door around 2 a.m.

When she answered, someone shot her multiple times. Police have not publicly identified any suspects.

On Tuesday, the assault victim said she has been “on high alert for another attack” since the beatings and her sister’s death. Since then, she has filed for a restraining order against Lewis, saying she believed he was going to kill her.

Lewis told the court that he wanted to apologize. He’s taken anger management and parenting classes, as well as therapy. He’s trying to become a “better man” for his children, he said. He has been in the Snohomish County Jail since the verdict last month.

The woman also spoke.

For months, she couldn’t sleep, she said. When she did, she had gruesome nightmares.

“The last 1½ years have been exhausting,” the woman said.

“His only goal in life was to cause me pain,” she said, “after I had the audacity to say no more.”

Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.

Help available

If you or someone you know needs help relating to domestic violence, contact Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County’s 24-hour confidential hotline at 425-252-2873.