By Erin Quinn

Tribune-Herald staff writer

GATESVILLE — John Tarrell Hopkins said that after he stabbed his girlfriend’s ex-husband to death, she thanked him every day and told him it was the nicest thing anyone ever had done for her.

Hopkins, 28, was a prosecution witness Wednesday in the capital murder trial of Leslie Megan Lewis-Grant, 44, in Judge Phillip Zeigler’s 52nd State District Court in Gatesville in Coryell County. Lewis-Grant is on trial in the Sept. 2007 stabbing death of her ex-husband, James Michael Grant Sr., 44, who went by Michael.

Testimony resumes at 9 a.m. today. If convicted on the charge, Lewis-Grant will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Hopkins, who was brought to the courtroom from the Coryell County Jail, testified that Lewis-Grant, a Gatesville prison nurse, offered him any money or property that she had access to, as well as Social Security checks, if he killed her ex-husband. The request came after Hopkins began dating Lewis-Grant and after he had befriended her 16-year-old son, James Michael Grant Jr., known as Jamie.

Related

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• 12-07-08  Former Gatesville prison nurse sentenced to life for murder, must serve as least 30 years 
• 12-06-08  Former Gatesville prison nurse convicted on lesser charge of murder, awaits sentencing 
• 12-05-08  Lewis-Grant tells jury she had nothing to do with her ex-husband's stabbing death 
• 12-04-08  Gatesville man says girlfriend thanked him for killing her ex 
• 12-03-08  Witnesses testify Gatesville prison nurse hired boyfriend to kill ex-husband 
• 12-02-08  Murder trial beginning today of woman for her part in ex-husband's stabbing death 
• 11-13-08  Hearing determines judge to not recuse himself in Coryell County capital murder trial 
• 09-23-08  Coryell County teen pleads guilty to murdering his father 
• 05-03-08  Teen charged in slaying 
• 03-19-08  Judge rules teen can stand trial as adult in his father's killing 
• 10-30-07  Three arrested in connection with Coryell County man's death 

• More jail booking photos

John Tarrell Hopkins (Coryell County photo)

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Hopkins pleaded guilty to capital murder last month in Michael Grant’s death. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jamie Grant pleaded guilty last month to murder in his father’s death. The younger Grant, who was certified as an adult, is serving a 45-year prison sentence.

About a week before the murder, Hopkins asked Jamie Grant what he and Lewis-Grant would think of him if he killed the teen’s father, Hopkins testified Wednesday.

Jamie replied, that they would treat him “like a king,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins said that early in the morning of Sept. 15, 2007, Jamie Grant watched from the doorway of his father’s bedroom while Hopkins repeatedly stabbed his father. Once Grant was dead, Hopkins said the son stomped several times on his father’s chest.

Hopkins said after he and Jamie Grant dumped Michael Grant’s body alongside a road, Lewis-Grant was awake when they returned, bloodied, to her 360 Greenbriar Road home.

When Jamie Grant told her that Hopkins killed his father, Hopkins testified that Lewis-Grant was shocked and said, “Oh my God. Oh my God.” He said, “She couldn’t believe it.”

Hopkins testified that Lewis-Grant burned their bloody clothing in her barbecue pit. Hopkins then dumped the remnants of the clothing in various locations, and spent the morning visiting garage sales in Gatesville.

After Grant’s death, Hopkins testified that his relationship with Lewis-Grant grew deeper.

“She thanked me pretty much every day and told me she loved me,” Hopkins said. “She said it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. She became a lot happier.”

Lewis-Grant’s attorney, Russ Hunt Sr., pointed out that Hopkins has been convicted of two felonies and initially lied twice to the police in Grant’s murder.

“Nobody other than you can tell this jury that Megan offered you any money to kill her ex-husband,” Hunt said when questioning Hopkins.

Hopkins said Jamie Grant also knew of the money.

Since October 2007, while Hopkins and Lewis-Grant have been incarcerated in the Coryell County Jail, testimony revealed the two have been passing notes to each other. Hunt said Hopkins’ notes to Lewis-Grant indicated that he loved her and would lie for her in court.

Hopkins denied that the notes said that.

Hopkins also testified that he loved Lewis-Grant, but did not intend to be with her forever, and that he also had a girlfriend in Lampasas at the time. He said neither girlfriend knew of the other.

Hunt told the 10-woman, 2-man jury in opening arguments Tuesday that his client did not know of the murder and was intoxicated and joking when she told people that she wished her ex-husband was dead. The prosecution has called three co-workers, a Gatesville business owner and a family member who have testified that Lewis-Grant often spoke of wanting Grant dead. Testimony revealed Lewis-Grant would go into specifics about how she might kill him or have him killed, including a dream about having her son slash him in his sleep with a machete.

Hopkins testified Wednesday that he chose to follow through with the murder when he heard Lewis-Grant crying while on the phone with Michael Grant on the morning of Sept. 14, 2007. He said he also wanted to kill Grant for the money.

Hopkins said that after the killing he became paranoid that Lewis-Grant and her son would tell police and said in October of 2007 he pulled out a gun with the intention of killing the two.

He said he changed his mind when Jamie Grant began to cry and called Hopkins, “Dad.” Hopkins said he decided instead to kill himself and wrote a suicide note to his mother, in which he confessed to the murder.

That night, Hopkins was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon because he had pointed the gun at Jamie Grant, according to testimony.

While arrested, Hopkins confessed to the police his part in the crime. And when Texas Ranger Jesse Ramos used an investigative technique and told Hopkins the mother and son had told police he killed Grant, he implicated them in the killing.

Belinda Bankhead Toker, a former nurse at the Gatesville prison and co-worker of Lewis-Grant, testified Wednesday that Lewis-Grant had told her weeks before Grant’s murder that her ex-husband was being nice to her and had even brought her a new refrigerator and air-conditioning unit.

After Grant’s death, Toker testified that Lewis-Grant came to her house and confessed that she really loved her ex-husband.

Before Lewis-Grant left Toker’s home, Toker testified that her friend hugged her and told her she knew who killed her ex-husband.

“It was him. It was him. Jamie did it,” Lewis-Grant told Toker.

equinn@wacotrib.com

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