Local : From Times Staff and wire service reports : Assemblyman Lewis Told to Stand Trial Sept. 25 in Reagan Forgery

SACRAMENTO — A Superior Court judge today ordered Republican Assemblyman John R. Lewis of Orange to stand trial Sept. 25 on charges of forging former President Ronald Reagan’s name on campaign endorsement letters mailed to California voters in 1986.

Lewis, who was indicted Feb. 6 by the Sacramento County Grand Jury, waived his right to a preliminary examination before trial.

His attorney, Clyde M. Blackmon, said Lewis decided to proceed directly to trial because the “prospects were not good” of a judge’s dismissing the case at a preliminary hearing. At such a hearing, the judge, to sustain the charges, must find only that there is “probable cause” to believe that a crime has been committed.

Lewis’ lawyer and the deputy attorney general prosecuting the case had agreed tentatively to start the trial Sept. 8, but delayed it two weeks so that Lewis could be present in the Legislature for the end of the first half of the 1989-1990 session.

Blackmon said he also plans to introduce motions by May 30 asking that the charges be dismissed against Lewis, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last week. Blackmon contends that state forgery laws do not apply because Lewis did not intend to defraud anyone of money or property.