By Emily Ingram

Tribune-Herald staff writer

A Gatesville teen arrested in his father’s killing has been certified to stand trial as an adult.

Judge Phillip Zeigler of the 52nd State District Court certified 16-year-old James Michael Grant on Monday to stand trial as an adult in the death of his father, also named James Michael Grant, said Coryell County Assistant District Attorney Ryan Lawton.

If convicted as an adult, he could face up to life in prison.

The elder Grant’s body was found wrapped in a sheet early Sept. 15 on a county road. Investigators determined Grant, 44, had been killed at his home east of Gatesville and his body moved.

On Oct. 29, John Tarrell Hopkins, 26, was arrested and charged with capital murder and other possibly unrelated charges. Police also arrested the younger Grant on a murder charge and his mother, Leslie Megan Lewis-Grant, 43, on charges of tampering with evidence, capital murder and retaliation. It was unclear Tuesday whether the retaliation charge was related to Grant’s killing.

The arrest documents said Hopkins confessed during a jail interview with sheriff’s investigators to killing Grant.

The younger Grant allegedly called Hopkins one night and said his father was sleeping, the documents stated. Hopkins came to Grant’s house on Rocky Road near Gatesville and went into the father’s bedroom.

While the younger Grant waited in the hallway, Hopkins stole a 9 mm handgun and some cash from his father’s wallet, said a prayer and stabbed him in his sleep, the documents stated.

Grant’s son came into the room and stomped on his father’s chest before the two picked up the body and loaded it into the back of a white Chevrolet truck, arrest documents stated. Hopkins and Grant cleaned themselves while Lewis-Grant burned their bloody clothing. She later stuffed the remains of the clothes into garbage bags that Hopkins threw away in two different locations, the documents said.

Prosecutors will present the case against the younger Grant to a grand jury for possible indictment on a murder charge, Lawton said. A court date hasn’t been set.

Lewis-Grant and Hopkins remained at the Coryell County Jail late Tuesday, with Lewis-Grant held in lieu of $600,000 bond and Hopkins held in lieu of $1.05 million bond. Information about the younger grant’s incarceration was not available Tuesday.

eingram@wacotrib.com

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