Eric Lewis, the Omaha man charged in the 2007 death of a state hospital psychiatrist, asked a judge Thursday to discharge the attorney appointed to represent him in the criminal proceedings.

Lewis, a former Lincoln Regional Center patient, made the request at a Lancaster County District Court hearing punctuated by his sometimes bizarre, incomprehensible claims.

Near the end of the hearing, District Judge Paul Merritt Jr. asked Lewis, 36, why he did not want defense attorney Stu Mills to represent him.

“Omaha police hook me up to a wire,” answered Lewis, wearing leg and hand restraints and seated near Mills at the defense table.

“They talked to my ear,” he said. “ … This is about unhooking me. … They watch me. They got to me. They get to everybody.”

Merritt said he would rule later on Lewis’ request. The judge told Lewis that, if he granted the request, he could consider appointing Mills as stand-by counsel.

“I don’t want him, period,” Lewis said. “I don’t trust him.”

Lewis is scheduled for trial beginning June 16 on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Dr. Louis Martin, 78, a psychiatrist at the Lincoln Regional Center.

Authorities said Lewis, angered because he could not return to Department of Correctional services custody, attacked Martin July 23 after Martin walked through a door at the hospital. The psychiatrist’s head struck a wall and the floor. He died about 10 days later.

Merritt in February found Lewis competent to stand trial in the death. The finding was based on an examination by a Creighton University psychiatrist, who examined Lewis through a jail cell door. Lewis had refused earlier orders to consent to an examination.

The hearing Thursday had been scheduled to consider trial issues, including whether Lewis should be in restraints in the trial courtroom. Some of the earlier courtroom showings have included sudden, angry outbursts from Lewis. And in April 2006, Lewis overturned a table at a Douglas County hearing on charges he sexually assaulted two women.

Merritt said Thursday he would take up the restraints and other pre-trial issues after deciding Lewis’ request to represent himself.

Lewis filed the motion to dismiss Mills May 16 in Lancaster County District Court. He wrote in the motion that he was “in a X-ray tube watch(ed) by individuals.”

On Thursday, Lewis showed his displeasure with Mills before the hearing began.

Lewis, dressed in orange jail clothing, walked into the courtroom from a side door, accompanied by corrections officers, and sat down near Mills. When the attorney acknowledged his presence, Lewis responded, “You’re not my attorney anymore.”

He then leaned forward toward the table and knocked what appeared to be a box of Kleenex in the attorney’s direction. Whether the act was one of aggression, or done simply to clear the table in front of him, was unclear.

Mills said after the hearing that, if retained on the case, he could raise the insanity defense at trial.

Reach Clarence Mabin at 473-7234 or cmabin@journalstar.com.