Damien C. Lewis wasn’t supposed to be in Lawrence last week. He was supposed to be locked in a prison cell.

Law enforcement authorities had been searching for Lewis since April, when a warrant was issued for his arrest on a parole violation. They never found him, and police say that left him free July 10 to shoot and kill Wyona Chandlee and George “Pete” Wallace.

Lewis’ arrest early Wednesday  and a capital murder charge filed against him Thursday  are the latest in a series of run-ins with the law that began when he was a teenager and includes threatening his mother and siblings with a steak knife.

According to Kansas Department of Corrections records, Lewis was released April 26 on parole from Hutchinson Correctional Facility. He had been serving a 56-month sentence for aggravated assault, burglary and criminal possession of a firearm.

He failed to report to his parole officer in Hutchinson, and corrections officials issued a warrant for his arrest April 29. Lewis remained free.

Bill Miskell, a spokesman for the Corrections Department, defended the agency’s actions in the case. He said corrections and local law enforcement agents check the places where parolees are supposed to be. If they’re not there, they must rely on tips from the public or “hits” in the National Crime Information Center database if the parolee is stopped or arrested on other charges.

“Anytime we pick up information on where one of our absconders is, we’ll pursue that either through ourselves or local law enforcement,” Miskell said. “Absent that … in most cases you don’t know where to start looking. You don’t know where they are.”

Miskell said that as of July 12, the Corrections Department had 485 active warrants for parole violators. The agency oversees about 3,900 parolees.

Police records in Lewis’ hometown of Newton show he first was charged as an adult in a crime committed Jan. 7, 1997, when he was 16.

Lewis, now 22, broke into a home in Newton and stole a Smith & Wesson handgun and 86 compact discs. Under an agreement with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to burglary and criminal possession of a firearm in exchange for a sentence of 36 months of probation. He was sentenced in March 1997.

Lewis apparently followed the conditions of his probation until Jan. 15, 1998, when police were called to his home.

According to police reports, Lewis’ mother, brother and sister had confronted him about how much Lewis talked on the telephone. Lewis took a steak knife from a kitchen drawer and told them, “I’ll kill all you (expletive).”

He then scuffled with his brother, but didn’t injure any of his family members.

Lewis pleaded no contest to a charge of aggravated assault. He was sentenced in July 1998 to 56 months for the crime and for violating probation on his previous two charges.

Prison records show Lewis was a less-than-ideal inmate while at Hutchinson Correctional Facility. He was disciplined seven times during the 2 1/2 years he was there, including citations for drug use, misconduct in the dining hall and poor work performance.

Lewis was released on parole in December 2001. He violated conditions of his parole and was returned on March 1, 2002, to Hutchinson. Details of the violation weren’t available Thursday.

He remained at Hutchinson until April 26, when he was again released on parole. If he had behaved in prison and followed conditions of his parole, his supervision would have ended Monday. With his loss of “good time” in prison, his anticipated end of supervision was Feb. 9, 2003.