A Queens jury convicted a National Guardsman this morning for the vicious beating death of his girlfriend on a Far Rockaway beach.
A stoned-faced David Lynch sat emotionless as the foreman read “guilty” on the top charge of second-degree murder for killing Althea Lewis on Nov. 23, 2010.
Prosecutor Denis Tirino proved that Lynch’s videotaped confession to detectives on the night of the crime where he claimed he had “tried to save [Lewis] from drowning” after they took a drunken dip into the frigid waters were one of the “many inconsistencies.”
An Iraq war veteran, Lynch brutally beat and drowned the woman he claimed he loved during an argument, said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown and added, “his convictions warrants a maximum prison sentence to punish him and protect society.”
“This was a personal crime! You don’t do these injuries except for an intent to kill,” said Tirino in her closing arguments on Tuesday.
Lynch, 32, had tearfully admitted to cops that he hit Lewis “three or four times in the mist of the struggling or tussling in the water” and “didn’t plan for this to go this way, I wanted to save her.”
Later in the trial, prosecutors played an audio recording of Lynch and a female confidant where he admitted that he and an “old friend” got into an “escalated” conversation about their break up that “got violent in the water.”
Lewis’ face was smashed from Lynch’s quarter-sized Army ring which left four star-shaped indentations on her mouth, nose and both temples.
Lewis’ DNA was matched to blood found on Lynch’s ring.
“If it happened in the water, she would be bruised all over from the waves moving them both, he had to have her under his control to pummel her face. It all happened on the land,” said Tirino.
The 45-year-old mother of two died of blunt-forced injury to her head and submersion in water, according to the medical examiner.
“I felt that we did the right thing by convicting him,” said juror No. 11, who identified herself as Vanessa E., an alternate turned juror who was visible upset as prosecutors showed the autopsy photos of Lewis during the trial.
“We had the law read back to us several times just to make sure we were making the correct decision and we did,” said the juror.
Lynch’s attorneys Michael Siff and Stephen Somerstein plan to appeal the verdict noting, “we don’t believe that intent was proven…we were zealous with out representation and intent to go forward with an appeal.”
Lynch’s aunt later gave a tearful apology to Lewis’ father, Roy Allen, for his loss.
“This is beautiful what you have done, we serve a merciful God and all will be forgiven,” said Allen as he consoled the remorseful woman.
Lynch faces up to 25 years to life when he’s sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth C. Holder on April 29.