Panicky calls to killer's hideout Two men summoned to John Lewis' home told of his mother's anguish at discovering his crime.

For Lynn Dyches - mother, grandmother, Philadelphia correctional officer - the first three days of November 2007 were the beginning of her continuing nightmare.

The whole city was hunting for the killer of veteran Police Officer Chuck Cassidy. And here he was - her son, John "Jordan" Lewis - in her Hunting Park house, carrying the murder weapon and Cassidy's stolen 9mm service pistol, saying he would never surrender and would kill anyone in his way.

While Judy Cassidy, her three children, and thousands of city police officers were in shocked mourning, preparing to bury the popular 54-year-old officer, Dyches was making panicky calls to people to come and talk to her son.

Two she called - her boyfriend and fellow correctional officer, and her nephew - yesterday described the chaos inside Dyches' house and how Lewis escaped to Florida, where he was arrested three days later.

The testimony of Herbert Hill and Lewis' cousin Hakim Glover were the highlights of yesterday's session in Lewis' murder trial for killing Cassidy during an Oct. 31, 2007, robbery at a Dunkin' Donuts in North Philadelphia.

Prosecutors are expected to finish their case later today after four days of testimony.

Lewis has pleaded guilty to killing Cassidy as well as to six armed robberies. The jury's task is to decide whether the killing was first- or second-degree murder.

If the jury finds Lewis guilty of first-degree murder, it must decide whether he should be put to death or sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole. A second-degree verdict carries an automatic life sentence without parole.

Hill, a 22-year Philadelphia prisons correctional officer who dated Dyches, said Dyches called him at work on Nov. 3, 2007, "hysterical" and pleading for him to come to her house as soon as possible.

Dyches would not describe the emergency, Hill added.

When he arrived at Dyches' home, Hill said, he went to the back door and was let in. In the kitchen, Hill said, he saw Lewis, Dyches, Lewis' two sisters, and his 3-month-old daughter.

Though Dyches and the sisters were clearly upset, Hill said Lewis appeared calm.

"Tell him," Dyches ordered her son, according to Hill.

Lewis at first refused, then said: "I shot that cop."

Hill said he initially did not believe Lewis but then told the family that Lewis needed to get a lawyer and surrender to police.

"He said he was not going to turn himself in and that if the police come to get him, it's going to be a mess," Hill said.