By Nolan Clay
The Oklahoman
SHAWNEE — The former Marine who killed his stepfather with an “atomic wedgie” poses a threat to the community and should serve a lengthy incarceration period, a probation officer has told a judge.
Brad Lee Davis, 35, of McLoud, pleaded guilty in May to first-degree manslaughter for killing his stepfather the night of Dec. 21, 2013, after a fight.
Pottawatomie County District Judge John G. Canavan Jr. will decide his punishment Thursday. Prosecutors plan to ask for a 35-year prison sentence, but the judge could order him to serve as little as four years in prison.
The death attracted widespread attention because of the unusual way the victim died.
Denver Lee St. Clair, 58, died after he was knocked unconscious and the elastic band from his underwear was pulled over his head. The band ended up pressed tightly against his throat, strangling him. The cloth from the blue underwear had ripped away from the band as the underwear was pulled.
Davis admitted giving his stepfather the “atomic wedge” — a commonly used slang name for the most humiliating version of the underwear-yanking prank. In remorseful testimony before the judge in May, he said he had meant to embarrass his stepfather, not kill him.
The two had fought inside the victim’s trailer in McLoud over family issues. Davis lived in a nearby trailer that he was renting from his stepfather. His mother was in the hospital at the time.
Davis expressed remorse again in a statement for a report prepared by the probation officer for the judge.
“After the fight out of anger from the fight with no excuse I pulled Mr. St. Clair’s underwear up over his head,” Davis wrote. “I have no good reason to explain this. All I can say is I am so sorry and ashamed of my actions. I truly loved and respected Mr. St. Clair. ... He was always my friend.”
He also wrote, “I wish I could take back that night. Two lives were forever changed because two grown men lost control.”
Davis promised to give up drugs and alcohol once he is released and get a job as a electrician.
“To avoid future trouble, I will walk away from heated situations. I am now willing to swallow my pride to avoid a physical altercation,” he wrote. “I will continue to look to the Bible for guidance because if I had followed the Bible in the first place, I would have left the situation that got me here.”
He was cutting wood for a living at the time of the offense. He had worked before that as a maintenance technician at the Kickapoo Casino.
The Corrections Department probation officer called Davis a threat to the community because “this offense appears to be fueled by a pattern of alcohol abuse and lack of self-control.”
The probation officer noted Davis was caught drinking alcohol when he was 16, was discharged from the Marines partially due to alcohol use and had been fined three times between 2004 and 2011 for public intoxication.
“Lastly, he was under the influence of alcohol when he committed the underlying offense,” the probation officer noted.
Based upon his background, the probation officer recommended “a lengthy incarceration period with the Department of Corrections.”
In a victim’s impact statement, the victim’s son, Carson St. Clair, asked the judge to impose a life sentence without the possibility of parole. “This will always last,” the son wrote, explaining he can’t get over the way his dad died. “I have bad nightmares.”