Already a delayed journey, the path to justice in the Elijah Lewis murder case will stretch out for three more weeks.

“Barring extraordinary circumstances, this will be the last continuance,” King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell vowed in his decision last week to grant a final continuance for the sentencing hearing for defendant Patrick Cooney.

In February, Cooney was convicted by a jury of second degree murder and first degree assault for the April 2023 scooter road rage shooting that took the life of the 23-year-old Lewis at the corner of Broadway and Pine.

What has followed in the weeks since the February conviction has been a back and forth between Cooney’s defense and the King County Prosecutor’s office over a date for the sentencing hearing following a trial that was already slowed by juror illness and unavailability of prosecutor Carla Carlstrom due to a personal matter.

The court granted Cooney’s defense team a continuance from the first March sentencing hearing date. It has now granted a second — and likely final — continuance of the hearing that had been rescheduled for this Friday.

Cooney, 37, is now set to be sentenced the afternoon of Friday, May 16th.

Delays and rescheduling of hearings are not necessarily unusual and in the Lewis murder case Judge O’Donnell said it was a matter of due process in granting the continuance.

“The Court, based on defense counsel’s declaration about Constitutionally inadequate representation, the modest amount of time requested, and the significance of the sanction the defendant faces, good cause exists to grant this motion,” O’Donnell wrote.

The Nielsen Koch & Grannis defense team has been busy in the interim as it has requested the changes while “working to develop mitigating evidence.”

According to court filings, in March, the defendant’s legal team was granted an order for a clinical psychiatric professor and consultant to conduct a “face-to-face” visit with Cooney.

Expert testimony can be part of sentencing to provide specialized knowledge and insights that can influence the judge’s decision.

The prosecutor’s office has said the total statewide standard sentencing range for second-degree murder and first-degree assault convictions with firearm enhancements is 28 to 38 and a half years.

Lewis is remembered as a dedicated community builder and entrepreneur in the Central District and Africatown communities. He was proud of his efforts as a self-described “serial entrepreneur” in addition to his work with Sankofa Theater and doing outreach for the Africatown Community Land Trust.

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