SOA Actor Dead After Vicious Spree

On September 24, 2012, Jonathan “Johnny” Lewis moved into an upstairs bedroom at the Writer’s Villa, a bed-and-breakfast style home for aspiring writers, directors, and performers, in Los Feliz. The 28-year-old actor was best known for his role as Half-Sack in the FX series Sons of Anarchy. His landlord, 81-year-old Catherine “Cathy” Davis made sure that Johnny had his old room as he had previously lived there.

Two days later, Dan Blackburn, former NBC newsman, watched Johnny pace up and down the pavement outside his house before knocking on his front door. “Hi, I’m John, your new neighbor,” he said. He abruptly turned and walked away.

Roughly 30 minutes later, Dan heard his wife, Gloria, calling for him. He rushed outside to find Johnny on top of the house-painter, his face covered in blood. When he attempted to intervene, Johnny punched him in the face knocking him to the ground. Dan, Gloria, and the house-painter managed to evade Johnny, however it took all of them barricading the door to keep him out.

Through the window, Dan watched Johnny leap over the wooden fence surrounding the Writer’s Villa and disappear inside. According to Dan, Johnny “was like a low-key Spiderman.”

The Los Angeles Police Department responded to the residence around 10:40 a.m. after receiving 911 calls regarding a woman screaming and men fighting. When they arrived, they discovered Johnny’s lifeless body lying on his back near the tip of the driveway. It appeared as though Johnny had jumped over the wrought iron railing on the terrace or slipped from the roof and dropped 15 feet to the driveway below head first.

Johnny had blood stains on his arms, torso, and clothing that did not appear to be from his head wound. Johnny’s skull was smashed on the left side of his head, as well as multiple abrasions, contusions, and minor laceration on his neck and arms. In addition, his left eye socket was caved in and he had a wound on his right chest.

According to the autopsy report, Johnny had been partially strangled as evident by nail marks on both sides of his neck. At the time of his death, no drugs or alcohol were found in his system. The coroner ruled that Johnny died of a fall; there is no definitive evidence to suggest that he had intended to kill himself, nor is there evidence that he was pushed. Therefore, the manner of death is accidental.

When police entered the villa, they saw broken glass on the floor of Johnny’s bedroom and a rusty hummer with traces of blood. As they continued their search they discovered Cathy’s cat Jessie’s lifeless body in the shower. It was covered in blood and its skull has been bashed in. Across the hall, investigators found Cathy’s body on the floor beside her bed in the master bedroom. There was blood on the bed frame, wall, table, and chair.

The autopsy report would determine that Cathy died of blunt-force trauma to her head. Her entire skull was fractured and the left side of her face was obliterated, leaving her brain exposed. Investigators believed that Johnny may have stomped on Cathy’s skull. “Brain and tissue matter seen on the floor around her. Her face is covered in blood. Her nose is split down the middle and her upper jaw is split open,” said medical examiner Kelli Blanchard.

Cathy had four small puncture wounds on her left cheek, presumably from a mechanical pencil found beside the body. Additionally, she had been beaten and manually strangled. Friends of Davis’ believed that Johnny had attacked her after she confronted him about turning off the electricity from the fuse box. Moments later, Johnny went outside and attacked the Blackburns and their painter before returning to the villa.

Johnny’s life began to spiral nearly one year before the events of September 26.

In October 2011, Johnny lost control of his Triumph motorcycle near Twentynine Palms. At the hospital, doctors found no signs of a concussion and released him. However, Johnny’s father, Michael Lewis, grew concerned when his behavior began to change - exhibiting violent outburst - even going as far as to schedule two MRI’s but Johnny refused.

Shortly after the New Year, Johnny was out for a walk, wearing only his pajama bottoms, when he claimed he heard cries of distress from inside a neighboring Northridge townhome. Upon breaking inside, he found the place empty. Shortly thereafter, two men returned to the unit and asked him to leave. Johnny attacked the men with an empty Perrier bottle, striking each on the head. He later claimed he was acting in self-defense. While attempting to flee, Johnny bite on of the men on the arm. One of the men was able to overpower him and punched him in the head 17 times, before the police arrived.

After his arrest, Johnny told police he was acting in self-defense. He was charged with trespassing, burglary, and assault with a deadly weapon and sent to the Twin Towers jail. Three days later, his behavior landed him in the psychiatric ward for an involuntary 72 hour hold. After being bailed out, Johnny attempted suicide by slashing his wrists.

On February 10, Johnny was arrested again for cold-cocking a man outside a yogurt shop. Days later, he walked into the ocean in Santa Monica, fully clothed. He was treated at the hospital for hypothermia. A week later, he was arrested for breaking into a woman’s apartment in Santa Monica. He believed the apartment belonged to a friend.

In July, Johnny wrote in his journal, “Felt more whole today…more complete, like parts of myself had been stolen in my sleep and scattered all over the world and now they’ve begun to return…I’m more determined than ever now. I’ll face what I am. I’ll face what I was.”

The following month, Johnny was sentenced to a year in jail for the Northridge assault but due to overcrowding, he was released six weeks into his sentence.

According to his father, Johnny - who had not been formally diagnosed - had been prescribed Zyprexa and Abilify, both of which are used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but Johnny refused to take them. “Johnny Lewis had a lot of problems, a lot of mental problems. I recommended treatment for him but he declined it,” said Johnny’s lawyer, Jonathan Mandel. According to Jonathan, his client suffered from psychosis. Wendy Feldman, an alternative sentencing specialist, noted that Johnny suffered from “psychopathy or bipolar disorder,” and needed a psychiatrist.

“We got the motorcycle head injury, then he’s beaten in the head 17 times [during the Northridge break-in],” Michael says. “Then when he’s in jail, he is pounding his own head against the concrete and attempting to leap from the second-story pier. Then you have the doctor’s own diagnosis of brain trauma. And that’s just the stuff we know about.”

The Monday following his release Johnny moved into the villa. When Michael called his son the following day he sounded agitated, “I’m busy, what do you want?” After he calmed down, he told his father he would talk to him later. That was the last time Michael spoke to his son before being notified of his death.

Whether a psychotic episode or side effect of a traumatic brain injury, we will never truly know the truth about what happened in the Writer’s Villa