A 28-year-old Texas woman claimed through tears that she was insane and believed her grandma was practicing witchcraft on her when she savagely murdered her.
Tamera Laws, 28, faces life in prison if convicted of assaulting, strangling, and stabbing 70-year-old Doris Novella, according to WOAI-4. During her testimony, Laws claimed she had no cause to murder the woman who nurtured her.
“Because she’s never done anything to me for me to want to kill her for,” Laws said.
However, Laws grew worried that her Novella intended to harm her.
“I know grandma’s trying to kill me,” Laws testified. “I was afraid my grandma was doing witch craft on me. Because that’s what my dad told me.”
According to NBC-15, Laws was addicted to meth at the time of the 2020 murder and claimed to hear voices. The voices informed her that people, including Novella, were attempting to kill her.
Laws claimed that while in this state, she spoke with her father, who informed her that her grandmother was practicing witchcraft on her and intended to harm her.
“I remember telling him, ‘Are you (obscenity) telling me to kill my grandma right now?'” she said.
She said she began beating Novella because “I thought the energy was on me, so I was thinking to get it off, I had to beat it out.”
Laws stated that she beat Novella five times with a hammer, choked her, and then stabbed her in the throat, according to NBC 15.
Laws is undergoing a bench trial, and Judge Catherine Torres-Stahl is likely to render a decision this week.