BARTLESVILLE — A Washington County jury has found a 21-year-old Bartlesville man guilty of killing his grandmother in an October 2012 slaying at her eastside home.
The jury, which was empaneled Monday, deliberated four hours Thursday before finding Brandon William Capps guilty of first-degree murder and five other charges.
District Judge Curtis DeLapp set a Nov. 13 sentencing date for Capps, who had confessed to killing Clara Jean Hammer, 81, but repeatedly testified that he had “blacked out” and could not remember the details of what happened when his grandmother was beaten to death with a baseball bat.
“I saw my grandma lying on the floor,” Capps told the jury. “Grandma was laying there dead with the bat beside her. She was laying there with a pool of blood around her hair. I sat down in her chair, and I started thinking about the situation, and eventually I came to the conclusion that I had killed my grandma.”
Bartlesville Police Capt. Rocky Bevard testified about officers being called to Hammer’s home in the 4700 block of Dartmouth Drive on Halloween after neighbors discovered the homicide. The home was a familiar one to Bevard, as Hammer had been his Cub Scout den mother and he had attended meetings and sleep-overs there as a child.
Hammer’s vehicle was missing from the home, and Bevard told of locating the car at an apartment complex a couple of blocks away. When Capps started driving away in the car, police stopped it, he said.
In addition to murder, the jury found Capps guilty of unauthorized use of a vehicle, possession of a controlled dangerous substance, driving without a license, unlawful receipt of proceeds derived from violation of a state law and petty larceny based on the theft and sale of his grandmother’s jewelry.
The jury recommended a sentence of life in prison and a $10,000 fine on the murder conviction. They recommended another three years and six months for the other convictions, along with an additional $1,950 in fines.
Capps testified about having a difficult childhood in which he was beaten by his mother and molested repeatedly. He told the court about arguing with Hammer on the day of her death and how he became angry because she had compared him to his mother.
Capps was homeless but said he had been given permission by his grandmother to stay with her. He said he bought some canned air and “huffed” it in the night, along with some gasoline.
Capps testified that he does not remember striking Hammer. He remembers arguing with her and then waking up in the area of Frank Phillips Boulevard and Fleetwood Avenue. He said he went back to his grandmother’s house and was “deeply distressed” by finding her dead, and he said the discovery sent him into a rage.
“I pretty much kind of went ballistic at first and grabbed the bat,” Capps said. “It’s like I could see what I was doing, and I pretty much ran through the house. I started hitting things and breaking things.”
After the rampage, Capps said, he collected jewelry from his grandmother’s room with the intention of selling it so he could get out of Oklahoma. He made himself a glass of chocolate milk to drink, then left the house and drove to a store to sell the jewelry.
Afterward, he bought a pipe and some marijuana and then went to a friend’s apartment to smoke it. He also bought new tennis shoes at the local mall.
“I kind of figured someone was going to come to the house and find Grandma, so I was just going to try to have something before my life was going to be over,” Capps said.
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