Fat-shaming defense: California boxer Izell Lewis, 26, who is being tried for rape argued in court that being ‘a good-looking guy,’ he could not have carried out the sexual assault because the alleged victim is ‘300 pounds’
A California boxer who is being tried for rape argued in court last week that he could not have carried out the sexual assault because the alleged victim is ‘300 pounds, no exaggeration’ and he’s ‘a ‘good-looking guy.’
Izell Lewis, 26, was arrested last summer for allegedly raping a female acquaintance at the Corte Madera Town Center, where he worked as a part-time boxing instructor at the Bay Club Marin.
Lewis is separately accused of masturbating in front of a female Uber driver last month while free on bail in the rape case – a claim he also denies.
Lewis, who is 6-foot-1 and weighing about 250lbs, won a Northern California Golden Gloves state title in 2016 in Fresno.
During a hearing in Marin County Court last Thursday, which was attended by a raucous group of Lewis’ supporters, the defendant informed Judge Andrew Sweet that he would be representing himself going forward, reported Marin Independent Journal.
The judge warned the 26-year-old rape suspect that it was a ‘terrible’ idea,’ but ultimately gave him the go-ahead.
TKO: Lewis (left), who is 6-foot-1 and weighing about 250lbs, won a Northern California Golden Gloves state title in 2016 in Fresno (pictured)
Prior to invoking his constitutional right to self-representation, Lewis was being defended by a court-appointed lawyer who had drafted a motion to dismiss the rape case, arguing that prosecution failed to disclose a discrepancy concerning the date of the alleged assault.
Lewis’ accuser initially told police that on July 27, 2017, the boxer lured her into a stairwell at the shopping center, dropped his pants and proceeded to rape her. She later said the attack occurred on July 13.
The alleged crime was reported to police on August 24, 2017, and Lewis was arrested a week later on felony counts of forcible rape and rape by a foreign object.
Lewis pleaded not guilty to both charges and was released after posting $10,000 bail.
In March, Lewis allegedly exposed and pleasured himself in front of a female Uber driver in San Rafael.
The alleged rape took place in July 2017 in a stairwell at the Corte Madera Town Center, where both Lewis and his accuser had worked
Lewis worked as a part-time boxing instructor at the Bay Club Marin (pictured)
When the driver told her passenger that she was going to call police, he jumped out of the car and fled, according to police, but he was arrested after arriving in court for a hearing in the rape case on April 10.
On Thursday, he pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor lewdness charge stemming from that incident, telling the court he was baby-sitting at the time the alleged incident took place and that he does not have the ride-sharing app on his phone.
The judge set Lewis’ bail at $170,000. If convicted, he could be looking at up to eight years in prison in the rape case.