By Erin Quinn

Tribune-Herald staff writer

GATESVILLE — Leslie Megan Lewis-Grant, a 44-year-old former Gatesville prison nurse, told a 10-woman, two-man jury Thursday she had always worried something might happen to her ex-husband because she knew she would be the prime suspect.

On trial for capital murder in the September 2007 deadly stabbing, Lewis-Grant testified that she told “everybody” she hated James Michael Grant Sr., who went by Michael, and that she wished he were dead. She told jurors in Judge Phillip Zeigler’s 52nd State District Court that she remembered telling co-workers she wanted to bake her diabetic ex-husband a cake loaded with sugar or switch out his insulin.

Yet she broke down in tears twice during her testimony and said she did not have anything to do with Grant’s death.

If convicted of capital murder, Lewis-Grant faces life in prison without parole. Both sides rested their cases Thursday afternoon. Closing arguments are expected to begin at 9 a.m. today.

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Leslie Morgan Lewis-Grant smiles as Coryell County Sheriff's Deputies walk her to jail from the county courthouse where she is on trial for murder in the stabbing death of her ex-husband. (Rod Aydelotte photos)

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Upon instruction from her attorney, Russ Hunt Sr., Lewis-Grant calmly spoke directly to the jury. She was the lone witness to testify on her behalf.

Lewis-Grant said that until she was arrested on Oct. 29, 2007, in her ex-husband’s death, she did not know of any role in the killing by her former boyfriend, 28-year-old John Tarrell Hopkins, or her 16-year-old son, James Michael Grant Jr., who goes by Jamie. Hopkins on Wednesday testified he repeatedly stabbed Michael Grant and then Jamie stomped on his father’s chest.

Hopkins, who pleaded guilty last month to capital murder in the killing, is serving a life sentence without parole. Jamie Grant, who was certified as an adult, pleaded guilty to murder in September and is serving a 45-year sentence.

Prosecutors say Lewis-Grant burned Jamie Grant and Hopkins’ bloody clothing in a barbecue pit at her home after they had dumped Michael Grant’s body alongside a nearby Gatesville road.

Investigators have testified this week to finding remnants of clothing inside the barbecue pit. Lewis-Grant denied any involvement.

She is also accused of offering Hopkins money, property and Social Security benefits from her husband’s death in exchange for killing her ex-husband. Hopkins repeated this accusation when he testified Wednesday.

Similar accusations came up Thursday in testimony by another prosecution witness. Jeremy Knutson, the son-in-law of Leewood Broussard, Lewis-Grant’s former boyfriend, said she offered him $5,000 to kill her ex-husband after she said he was abusive to her.

However, Lewis-Grant said Knutson told the story backward.

“He said, ‘If you just give me his schedule, I can get rid of him for you. You know what I mean,’ ” Lewis-Grant testified.

Knutson, who was brought from a federal prison in Florida to the Gatesville courtroom, had no reason to lie in his testimony, said David Castillo, Coryell County district attorney. Castillo said he did not offer anything to Knutson in exchange for testifying.

Knutson said though Lewis-Grant led him to believe that Michael Grant was abusive to her, he was not around her enough to see any signs of abuse.

Abuse accusations

Hopkins, too, testified that Lewis-Grant told him her ex-husband abused her and the couple’s children: Jamie and a daughter.

Witnesses, including Lewis-Grant’s friends and co-workers, have testified that they saw no evidence that Grant was abusing his ex-wife. Her co-workers did not remember Lewis-Grant complaining of abuse.

Lewis-Grant testified Thursday her ex-husband abused her weekly. She said he “loved” to tell her that he “took her self-esteem away” by calling her names such as stupid, fat and ugly throughout their marriage.

Lewis-Grant testified that he had little interaction with their two children, was not faithful during the marriage and went out drinking all the time. He often did not return home from nights of drinking, she said. Lewis-Grant also said Grant followed her everywhere she went after the divorce. He would take pictures of her and would videotape her every move.

Previously, witnesses testified that Grant recorded his phone conversations with Lewis-Grant because he believed she was trying to kill him by switching his insulin.

Lewis-Grant testified that she was so scared that her ex-husband would physically harm her that after the divorce she dated men who might physically intimidate him in hopes that he would leave her alone.

Lewis-Grant said that on the night of Sept. 14, 2007, Hopkins was watching TV in the living room when she went to bed about 10:30 p.m. She testified that she woke up about 3 a.m. and noticed that Hopkins had never come to bed. She said she couldn’t find him anywhere. She said she became angry because she assumed Hopkins must have taken her car, as he often did.

She said she woke up about 8:30 a.m. the next day and received a call from Jamie, who told her his father had been stabbed to death.

She said she met her son at Grant’s house.

When Hunt asked Lewis-Grant to describe what she felt when she saw the police tape surrounding her ex-husband’s house, Lewis-Grant began to sob.

“It was just so horrible,” she said, between tears, “to think of what had happened there. . . . The whole scene nauseated me. I threw up twice in the street.”

Lewis-Grant told the jury that, at the time of Michael Grant’s death, the former couple was “getting along fine.”

She said she believes Hopkins may have killed Michael Grant out of jealousy.

“If I would have known that this was (Hopkins’) plan, I would have done anything, even give up my own life, to keep this from happening to Michael,” Lewis-Grant said tearfully.

equinn@wacotrib.com

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