By Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WILMINGTON - Beth Lewis' duties as a lawyer are clashing with her feelings as a mother.

In a case that led to an intense Ohio Supreme Court hearing over attorney-client confidentiality Wednesday, Lewis is not sharing information that a now-deceased client may have shared about the fate of 9-year-old Erica Baker.

Erica vanished while walking her dog in Kettering, Ohio, in February 1999 - believed to be that Dayton suburb's first child abduction by a stranger in 25 years. No trace of her has been found, despite massive local searches and national publicity.

"I would do the Bakers a disservice to try to imagine what it's like (not knowing what happened to Erica). I couldn't even fathom it," Lewis, 35, told The Cincinnati Enquirer in an interview, after she made her first public statements about the controversy that could land her in jail.

Police, prosecutors and Erica's relatives say they think Jan Marie Franks, a client whom Lewis represented on unrelated matters, may have told Lewis what happened to the little girl.

After Franks, 32, died in December 2001, Franks' husband signed a confidentiality waiver. A previously untested 1953 Ohio law says attorney-client privilege may be broken under certain conditions - and two courts agreed those conditions were met in this case. Last year, one court ordered Lewis to disclose the information or be jailed. She appealed and lost, then went to the Supreme Court. A decision is expected within two months.

As 150 people, mostly students, watched the Columbus-based justices' special visit to Clinton County Common Pleas Court, prosecutors and Lewis' lawyers squared off.

John P. Feldmeier, who represents Lewis, said Franks clearly conveyed she wanted the information kept secret - and he said prosecutors are trying "to pry open her mouth after she's deceased." Clients will be reluctant to speak candidly with lawyers if they learn confidentiality promises are not absolute, he warned.

Carley Ingram, a Montgomery County assistant prosecutor, argued that this case, involving a 50-year-old law, would not harm attorney-client relationships. "The attorney's duty to the client is great," she said, "but the attorney's duty to the administration of justice is greater."

Erica's father, Greg, stood outside on the courthouse veranda. Wearing a heart-shaped "Pray for Erica" lapel pin, he sighed heavily and said, "If Beth Lewis has a heart, if she's even human, she'll give up this information. ... If Beth Lewis knows what happened to Erica Baker, now's the time to tell us."

He did not attend a briefing in the nearby city municipal building, where Lewis stunned her lawyers, prosecutors and reporters. She suddenly rose to her feet and explained why she won't disclose Franks' statements. Lewis took an oath to keep secrets of all her clients, including Franks - even beyond death, she said, adding: "The fact that she's no longer alive does not mean her interests are not alive."

In a telephone interview later, Lewis acknowledged her decision generated "unpopular public opinion." But Lewis said she remains convinced she is doing the right thing under ethical rules. As an attorney, "your personal values, your personal morals, your personal beliefs are called into question -- and they conflict many times with what the system and the law require you to do," she said.

Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr. said the law requires Lewis to break confidentiality in this case because Franks' husband signed a waiver. He doesn't understand Lewis' aversion to testifying in a grand-jury proceeding, which is secret.

Lewis said that whether her disclosures would be in public or in secret doesn't matter. "The impact on the attorney-client privilege is the same," she said. "And it still impacts past, present and future clients of mine and the entire system."

Lewis isn't sure what she'll do if the Supreme Court decides against her, but she was prepared to go to jail. She and her attorneys would have to figure out their options after the Supreme Court decision is announced.

"I believe in the system," Lewis said, "and I need to follow that belief all the way through."

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com