MERCER COUNTY — An ongoing same-sex custody case proceeded Tuesday in Mercer County Common Pleas Court, even though the biological mother again failed to appear to make her case.

Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher J. St. John heard testimony and then said he would review his notes from the four years of hearings and court filings before making “probably one of the most difficult decisions in nine years on the bench.”

St. John said his custody ruling will have a “significant impact” on the 10-year-old girl and its “outcome is unpredictable.”

St. John must determine if the girl should live with Lisa Lewis in Sharon or stay with her biological mother, Jeannette Rowan, who moved two years ago to Oxford, Ohio. Lewis helped to raise the girl from birth to age 5 when Lewis and Rowan split up after 11 years as a couple.

Who gets custody isn’t a decision St. John could make in one day. He said if the child didn’t have medical problems, he probably wouldn’t hesitate but had to pause due to the health of the child even though he thinks Rowan might be using that to manipulate the system.

“I always have questioned the sincerity of … the diagnoses,” St. John said.

Lewis is seeking primary physical custody of the child she considers her daughter – biologically Lewis is the girl’s great-aunt – and Rowan has refused to comply with court-ordered visits and repeatedly failed to show up for court.

There’s a warrant for her arrest in Pennsylvania, but Ohio authorities won’t enforce it because Lewis only has legal visitation with the girl, not custody.

Last week, Rowan wrote to St. John asking that Tuesday’s hearing be continued because she said her daughter would be going into the hospital to have surgery today. She also said she’s tried to reach an agreement with Lewis but Lewis won’t compromise.

St. John denied the request for continuance.

Tuesday he asked Lewis if she is worried about the “turmoil and tension” a change in custody would create for the girl.

While Lewis said she is concerned about the girl’s well-being, she still wants to go forward. “It’s not exactly what I want to do to her, but at this point I feel I have no choice,” Lewis said.

Lewis said Rowan is trying to turn the girl against her.

Lewis said if given custody she wouldn’t want to keep the girl from seeing Rowan but would ask for supervised visits.

“I’m afraid she would flee with the child,” Lewis said.

“My goal remains preserving” her “best interest,” Lewis said of her daughter, who turns 11 next month.

Also testifying were Lewis’ current girlfriend Rebecca Griggs; Lewis’ 26-year-old son Matthew; and a Mercer County Children and Youth Services caseworker, Nicole Grande.

Testimony centered on living conditions, parenting skills, the girl’s health and parental finances:

• Living conditions and parenting skills. St. John questioned Lewis and Griggs about their home, which has a fenced-in backyard, a playhouse, a pool, a trampoline, a swingset and a garden.

Grande, who inspected the West Hill home for CYS, said she had no concerns about their ability to care for the girl.

She told Lewis’ attorney J.K. “Jarrett” Whalen that it was “refreshing” to find a home without any issues and noted that Lewis and Griggs had completed parenting classes and had a bedroom ready for the girl.

Matthew Lewis, who lives with his mother, said he’d be willing to give up his first-floor bedroom for the girl if she does need a wheelchair; the bedroom they have ready for her is on the second floor.

Matthew Lewis said he lived with his mother and Rowan for a time and then moved in with his grandparents at about age 13. He testified he was teased at school because his mother was gay.

He also said Rowan was strict. “She wanted to have full and total control,” he said.

• The girl’s health. Both Lewis and Griggs work full time on different schedules, but family or the girl’s former day-care center would be able to take care of her if the women’s shifts overlapped, they said.

Griggs testified that she has experience caring for a child with special needs; she used to watch her niece, who has cerebral palsy. She said she and Lewis have educated themselves about the girl’s ailments, though both women have doubts about Rowan’s reports of the girl’s condition.

Lewis said she believes Rowan may be exaggerating the girl’s symptoms for her own benefit.

Despite that, Lewis said, she’s already lined up a Sharon pediatrician to address the girl’s needs and is prepared to accept help from county agencies as well as her extended family.

In the past, the girl was covered under Lewis’ medical insurance.

St. John noted that documents purportedly from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital related to the girl’s treatment filed with Rowan’s letter were not signed or verified.

The paperwork lists 26 medications the girl takes daily and indicates she needs surgery but does not list a time or date for an operation.

Rowan in court documents has said the girl relies on a wheelchair, has a feeding tube and receives occupational, physical and respiratory therapy several times a week. The girl has an immune system deficiency and other problems including autism, anxiety and now has pneumonia.

Whalen pointed out photos Rowan posted online of the girl dancing on the beach and doing other normal activity. And when Lewis did have visits with the girl, she was able to play, run and jump, he said.

• Parental finances. St. John said Rowan claims the warrant for her arrest has taken away her livelihood. She said she can’t work outside the home because of the girl’s myriad medical problems and the warrant makes her ineligible to take care of mentally challenged adults in her home as she has in the past.

Whalen noted Rowan had filed for support payments from Lewis but withdrew the request when she moved. He said Ohio connects support with custody unlike Pennsylvania.

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Reached by phone Monday, Rowan told The Herald she wouldn’t be at the trial Tuesday because of her daughter’s medical condition.

Lewis said Rowan told her she planned to turn herself in and postpone the trial for the six months she’s supposed to serve in jail.

Rowan said she wants the opportunity to defend herself but “it seems like punitive action just keeps being taken against me.”

“I would like more than anything to resolve it,” Rowan said. “It’s been devastating financially and emotionally.”

Rowan does not have an attorney and said she can’t find one in Mercer County who will take her case. Her last attorney withdrew in August, saying Rowan wouldn’t cooperate.

The girl’s biological father, Jeremy Archer, is serving life in prison for the 2005 murder of Kristen Truchan at his Sharon home. He has not been involved in her life and has asked not to be involved in the custody case.