GATESVILLE - In opening arguments in the capital murder trial of Megan Lewis-Grant, her attorney said she wanted her children back but not over her ex-husband's dead body.

Ms. Lewis-Grant is accused of planning the murder of Michael Grant with her 16-year-old son and her boyfriend, John Hopkins, in September 2007.

Russ Hunt Sr., defense attorney, said Ms. Lewis Grant had a habit of self medicating herself by drinking too much alchohol. He said that when she drank she did on occasion talk about wanting Grant dead.

The couple went through a bitter divorce in 2004 in which Grant was awarded custody of the couple's two children.

Hunt told the jury that the couple's marriage deteroirated in part because of Grant's infidelity and said Grant was physically and emotionally abusive to his former wife. After the couple split, Grant would stalk and video tape his former wife, Hunt told the jury.

To compensate for her ex-husband's aggressive behavior, Hunt said Lewis-Grant dated "biker dudes who were big enough and bad enough that Micheal would not beak in and do her harm."

District Attorney David Castillo told jurors he would present evidence that showed Ms. Lewis-Grant's words about wanting her ex-husband dead were not idle.

He said investigors found rivets, similar to ones found on jeans, and burned cloth particles in a barbecue at Ms. Lewis Grant's home. In addition, Hopkins implicated Ms. Lewis-Grant in the murder scheme, according to statements he made to police when he confessed to the stabbing.

By noon Tuesday, prosecutors had called five witnesses, four of them law enforcement officials who worked on the case. Look for an update on the trial in the Wednesday edition of the Temple Daily Telegram.

promer@temple-telegram.com