A 24-year-old Rolling Fork man was sentenced to two life sentences in prison Friday after a Warren County jury found him guilty of the armed robbery and murder of a Vicksburg contractor.

Roderick Rashael Lewis, 614 Rosenwald St., showed no emotion when the verdict was read in Warren County Circuit Clerk after jurors deliberated two hours.

Bobbie Williamson, 72, the mother of the victim, Kenneth &#8220Wink” Williamson, 47, the owner of K&W Construction, said she and her family were relieved.

&#8220I hope this will help my family with the healing process as we remember Ken,” she said.

She had testified during the five-day trial that her son was the &#8220most generous person in the world.”

Prosecutors contended Lewis and three others went to Williamson’s home at 2841 U.S. 61 South on July 28, 2005, with Lewis planning to rob and kill his boss.

&#8220It’s about this man’s quest to be the big man,” Assistant District Attorney John Bullard said in closing arguments. &#8220He brought those three guys to Vicksburg with him to impress them by killing and robbing Ken Williamson. It was about revenge and money. You have to understand Roderick Lewis’ mindset.”

The revenge, Bullard said, stemmed from a pay cut the week before, after Williamson found Lewis sleeping on the job.

The defense attorney, Eugene Perrier, and Lewis, who testified Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, said the two had patched up their differences and held no ill feelings.

In Friday’s testimony, Lewis told jurors the only time he was with Derrick Hall, Joshua Warren and Joshua Bee on July 27, 2005, was to purchase marijuana at a friend’s house.

&#8220I didn’t see those guys until after 10 o’clock that night, when they picked me up from my grandma’s house,” said Lewis. &#8220They were outside talking to my brother. They asked me about going to get some weed because they knew I could get them a deal.

&#8220They all got the money together, about $20 or $30, and we went over to my boy’s house,” he said.

Perrier said four forensics experts and two Vicksburg Police Department investigators, who were among the 21 witnesses testifying during the week, failed to provide physical evidence linking Lewis to the crime.

&#8220The gunshot residue test was not indicative of anything,” Perrier said in closing arguments, &#8220especially since the only sign of residue they found was on the back of Mr. Lewis’ left hand – my client is right handed.”

Additionally, Lewis testified that blood found in the truck believed used in the crime, was his but was from an earlier injury from his job removing roofing shingles.

&#8220Blood got on my shorts and shoes, too, and I told police that when I was at the station,” he said.

Hall, Bee and Warren said in testimony earlier in the week that Lewis’ blood was on the dashboard and console because he was banging his hands in a rage after shooting Williamson and jumping into the truck when the four left Williamson’s house.

They also testified they had left Lewis alone with Williamson when they heard shots.

Lewis said after he smoked marijuana with the three men, he spent time with his girlfriend, Lashunda Lindsey, who gave a similar statement Thursday.

Lewis said he left her company about 2 a.m. and went home.

Williamson’s body was found in a bed of his home at about 6:30 a.m. by another employee, who went to check on him after Williamson failed to show at a job site.

He had been shot six times in the back of the head and once in the back of his left arm.

An empty wallet was found open near Williamson’s body.

The murder weapon, a .22-caliber revolver was recovered from Deer Creek in Rolling Fork after Lewis’ 22-year-old brother, Steven Lewis, told police he disposed of the gun to cover for his brother.

Circuit Judge Frank Vollor ordered Lewis to serve the life sentences consecutively.

Perrier said he plans to appeal the conviction and