Judge Orders Mental Health Evaluation For Accomplice In Norman Murder

The alleged accomplice in the murder of an elderly Norman man tells the court that he sees dead people. It was all part of an unexpected twist in the case against a three-time convicted killer.

Thursday, July 12th 2012, 7:48 pm

By: News 9

Judge Orders Mental Health Evaluation For Accomplice In Norman Murder

The alleged accomplice in the murder of an elderly Norman man tells the court that he sees dead people. It was all part of an unexpected twist in the case against a three-time convicted killer.

When the judge heard that he immediately stopped the preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors questioned Billy Battenfield's alleged accomplice about the intimate details of the murder, but it's what the witness told the defense that brought about concerns in the courtroom

Battenfield a three-time convicted killer and both he and 19-year-old Brandon Reed are charged with murder.

Prosecutors believe the defendants killed 80-year-old Clair Pollard while robbing him at his Norman home in November 2011.

As a witness for the state, Reed testified against Battenfield, detailing how they beat, suffocated and stabbed Pollard to death. The witness also claimed that Battenfield hit the victim multiple times with a police baton before stabbing him with a couple of steak knives.

During the testimony Reed told the court he did not want to kill Pollard, the elderly man he befriended years before the murder, but he testified Battenfield insisted.

Not long after Reed admitted to News 9's cameras he regrets the killing, he testified to seeing dead people, specifically the murder victim, waving at him just moments before arriving to court.

Reed then told the defense he has an alter ego that convinces him to do bad things, like commit crimes, and that his alter ego was also in the courtroom for the preliminary hearing.

Following those statements, Reed's attorney asked for a mental health evaluation. Reed previously made a deal with the state to testify and get life with possibility of parole on his murder charge.

Battenfield's preliminary hearing is now continued to September

A judge ordered the mental evaluation to be completed in 30 days. Until then a gag order is in place.