Lewis back on the stand. 
"Start off with something easy this morning," says prosecution as they begin their questioning. Lewis agrees that as sheriff he was an elected official and a public officer.
Prosecution starting a line of questioning involving SLED reaching out to Lewis through his attorney. He says he has no knowledge of that. Going back to the Charlotte trip now. Lewis says again that the trip was the county administrator's idea.
Says Charlotte was "more fiscally responsible" than Atlanta. Lewis says he doesn't remember where the planning of the budget trip lines up with when he knew Nabors was separated.
Lewis says he did not pay personally for the trip. State presenting another piece of evidence for Lewis to look at. Lewis identifies as receipts from the Charlotte trip for the sheriff's office attendees.
One of the receipts has a signature on it but Lewis says his name is on the receipt but not on the signature line. Repeats several times that it is "not his signature."
Lewis says nothing would have prevented him from carrying in the bottle of liquor himself. Says he doesn't know why he didn't carry it in. Prosecution says he wanted an excuse to go to Nabors' room. Lewis says no.
Prosecution says Lewis planned it that way to have to go to Nabors' room to get the bottle of liquor at night. Lewis says he did not plan it. Lewis says looking back it was a horrible idea. Says he doesn't recall saying anything to Nabors about the bottle.
Lewis confirms that he asked in Nabors wanted to have a nightcap. Lewis says looking back he understands he put them both in an inappropriate situation.
Lewis says he did not talk about his problems with his wife in her hotel room. Says they did talk about it several weeks later. Lewis references the audio recording of he and Nabors talking in her driveway.
"The relationship with my wife at that point was good and I made it look bad." Lewis says he lied about this to Nabors. Says the recordings sound like he's trying to pursue a conversation with a woman who was not his wife. Said he is ashamed.
State asks is Lewis realized at the time that this was "an HR nightmare." Lewis says his intent was not to have sex with Nabors. He says "things fell in line" but that he didn't plan it.
Lewis says everything that happened in the hotel room was consensual. "At the time I really don't know what I was thinking." Says "as a man" it was blissful but he didn't realize the ramifications.
Lewis says "it sounds like" I continued to pursue Nabors. Prosecution asks about his guilt. Lewis says he was "scared to death" his wife was going to leave him. Says he was panicked and scared.
"So the best way to handle that was to continue with the affair?" asks the prosecution. Lewis says he was trying to hold onto any part of any relationship and that's why he continued to pursue Nabors because he knew his wife would leave him.
An observation: Lewis is beginning many of his answers to this pointed line of questioning from the prosecution with "it seems like."
Lewis saying Nabors needed to be in Charlotte to explain what was in the prepared packets for the budget meeting. Lewis says Nabors was good at reminding him to do things so it was important for her to be there. Says Nabors did not discuss the packet with him beforehand.
Prosecution saying the only reason Nabors was in Charlotte was so Lewis could "seduce her." Lewis responds: "That is incorrect."
Lewis looking at some previous sworn testimony. This to give some timeframe to when they went to lunch the second day in Charlotte.
Lewis says he didn't think it was strange that Nabors did not show up the next morning. Says he assumed she probably slept in. Says he doesn't remember if they talked about the night before. "I don't remember but I'm certain we didn't."
Lewis saying he bought Advil from CVS, not personal lubricant. Says he knows this because he brought the Advil back to his office restroom after Charlotte.
Lewis claiming Nabors "could have" controlled his phone through her iPad. Says her iPad was hooked up to his phone. Says he does not remember sending the text to her at 3AM.
More previous testimony--it shows Lewis said he didn't recall going to Nabors room the second night. Now he's saying he didn't go her room the second night. Lewis says when he says "I do not recall" that meant he didn't do it.
This line of questioning is VERY contentious on the stand between the prosecution and Lewis. They are referencing previous testimony from the civil case. "You're not answering the question, you're avoiding the question." Lewis now speaking directly to the jury.
Prosecution: "You look guilty because you are guilty." Lewis turns to the jury and says to them that the prosecution isn't getting the answer they want from him.
Prosecution now playing another one of the secret recordings between Nabors and Lewis. Nabors is crying in it. Prosecution says the recording started with the phrase "hands off." Apparently this was the recording of her quitting. It was difficult to understand the conversation.
Lewis says they hugged. Says it was not an emotional hug as a friend. "When she would hug me before or when she would put her arm around me." Lewis putting all the physical actions back on Nabors.
Lewis says he did not go back to try and be with Nabors the second night. "Savanah was married as well so I would assume she felt the same guilt I did by having an affair." "I don't recall ever trying to sleep with Savanah again."
Prosecution is having Lewis read the definition of sexual harassment from an employee handbook. Lewis says it was not clear to him that Nabors did not want to have a sexual relationship during the conversation about Reno.
Lewis says he changed Nabors' job details because he realized she felt uncomfortable. Says Nabors understood this. Says he did not do this because she didn't want to have sex with him.
Listening to another one of the recordings. Lewis can be heard saying "this is uncharted territory." Lewis says he may have cussed at her but did not cuss her out. Says these are different.
Lewis says he does not believe it was a hostile work environment but says he did violate the sexual harassment policy for the GCSO. Says you could be terminated for that but says it was not a crime.
Back to the Tennessee beauty queen line of questioning. Lewis says he does not recall talking to anyone from Tennessee about the position. Says he doesn't recall the name Sydney Salati.
Prosecution presenting a contact from Lewis' cell phone. The list shows Lewis had Sydney Salati in his phone with a call and work phone. Says the area code is from Tennessee. Says it was created in January 2017. He says he still doesn't know who that is.
Lewis says he does not remember texting Sydney Salati. Prosecution now presents a text message conversation between Lewis and Salati. Lewis is reading it. "Oh I know who this is!" He looks surprised.
Says he now recalls that she was a vendor for the Sheriff's Association. "That's pretty funny." Says this is the roommate/best friend of the daughter of the SLED agent who came to his house and executed the search warrant. Lewis said this is a guy he demoted."That's who you got?"
Prosecution points Lewis to a "You up?" text in the thread with Salati. Prosecution now reading the messages. Salati is talking about a flight change, she asks if she can drive to Greenville. Sounds like they are talking about setting up a meeting.
Lewis says the timeline would line up with when they were looking for Nabors replacement. Lewis makes connection between Salati and a man he demoted at the sheriff's office. Speaking directly to the jury about this again.
Prosecution hands photo to Lewis of Salati. She is tall and blonde. Lewis says he never showed photos of Salati to Ty Miller and others. Lewis says he doesn't know if the photo is in fact Salati or not. Prosecution asks if Lewis offered Salati the job. He says no.
Lewis says Addie Hampton is the only person he remembers being offered the job. Says he does not remember offering Salati the job.
Judge telling jury to take a short break. Rauch Wise is objecting to a piece of evidence.
This is in regards to when Lewis resigned from the sheriff's office previously. The jury is not present for this conversation.
We're back now. Lewis talking about the ability to terminate deputies from the office. Lewis saying this is why he created the new command staff team. Lewis says he told Nabors she served at the pleasure of the sheriff.
Now talking about the blog. Lewis says he only told his wife about the affair after the lawsuit was filed on October 16. Says this is when the recordings were also released. "There was no more hiding at that point."
"Man, it was a whirlwind." Lewis says of the day the blog came out. Says at some point Nabors said verbally it was him. Says he went straight to Davenport and asked for SLED to be contacted for an investigation.
Prosecution asks if theres anything else Lewis wants to add. "Let's just go to questions and answers and do it that way." Says the prosecution. Lewis says many people lied on stand during this.
"That's exactly what it sounds like." Lewis smiling on the stand when prosecution asks about setting up Reno for more of the affair. Lewis says if they went to Reno that's probably what would have happened.
Cross examination done. We are now over to re-direct.
Lewis talking about a deputy he terminated for sexual harassment. Says this deputy sent a female deputy photos he took of himself that were inappropriate. Lewis says this deputy was terminated. Says the photos were not requested or wanted.
Wise asks if the sexual encounter with Nabors was wanted or unwanted. "It was wanted," said Lewis.
Wise having Lewis look at a transcript. Tells him to look at the part after "his Bill Clinton comment." This is a transcript from the Reno recording. Redirect is over.
We are now on re-cross. "If anybody follows the rules and regulations of the sheriff's office it should be you." Lewis agrees. Prosecution asks if a deputy did what he did he would fire them. Lewis says they could be fired but not charged with a crime.
Recross is over. Lewis excused. Defense rests.
