Harris County murder defendant punches defense attorney after 50-year sentence

What should have been a routine sentencing in the 178th Criminal District Court ended with a veteran Houston lawyer on the floor and a murder defendant facing a new accusation. John Petruzzi said Jaquarius Lewis punched him in the face moments after Lewis received a 50-year sentence in Harris County on Tuesday, April 29.

Petruzzi said the blow was the first time in 46 years of practice that a client had hit him. He said he has represented hundreds of murder defendants, which made the sudden courtroom assault stand out even more inside Judge Kelli Johnson’s courtroom at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.

Lewis, 27, had already pleaded guilty to the murder of Quincy Jermaine Johnson, 40, whose body was found after an April 18, 2024 shooting in northeast Houston. Houston police said Johnson was standing on his balcony on Sunbury Street when two male suspects walked by and opened fire. Investigators later identified Lewis as the shooter through surveillance footage, and police questioned a second man seen in the video before releasing him without charges.

Court records show Lewis had asked for new counsel on Dec. 26, 2025, before later pleading guilty on Jan. 21, 2026. By the time of sentencing, the state had recommended the maximum punishment, and Kelli Johnson imposed 50 years.

Petruzzi said the attack happened immediately after the sentence was announced. He said Lewis struck him so suddenly that he fell backward, hit a counter and then went to the ground. Petruzzi said he briefly lost consciousness and did not remember the fall. He was not seriously injured.

The new allegation against Lewis is injury to an elderly individual, a Texas offense that applies when someone causes bodily injury or worse to a person 65 or older. The courtroom charge adds another layer to a case that already carried one of the harshest punishments available in the murder case.

Kelli Johnson was elected to the 178th Criminal District Court in 2016 after serving 17 years as an assistant district attorney and won re-election in 2024. The scene in her courtroom underscored how quickly a sentencing hearing can turn volatile, even in a controlled courthouse setting where lawyers, staff and families are gathered around a final judgment.