Plea hearing delayed for former Sarcoxie Board member in child sex case

The change-of-plea hearing for former Sarcoxie R-2 Board of Education member John Lewis, originally scheduled for Monday, has been moved back to two days, according to online federal court records.

The hearing is now scheduled for Wednesday in the federal courts building in Springfield.

Lewis is charged with sexual exploitation of minors.

If it takes place as scheduled, this will be the second time Lewis has pleaded guilty.

Lewis entered his guilty plea Oct. 9, but it allowed either him or the government to withdraw the plea at any time before the judge formally accepted it. Eight days after the guilty plea, Carver, Cantin, and Mynarich officially signed on as Lewis' lawyers. Five days after that, they filed a request to delay the acceptance of the guilty plea so they could examine the plea agreement.

U. S. District Court Judge David Rush issued an order November 27 approving Lewis' motion to withdraw his original guilty plea.

The motion was made by Springfield attorneys Tom Carver, Shane Cantin, and Erica Mynarich, who were hired by Lewis after he replaced another Springfield lawyer Dee Wampler.