Mason - MSU alumnus Bramlett Hamilton pleaded innocent on Wednesday to charges that he fatally strangled and stabbed his mother, Professor Ruth Simms Hamilton, in her Meridian Township home.
On Tuesday, Meridian Township police found the 66-year-old urban affairs professor dead at about 1 p.m. in her two-story residence on Seneca Drive. Her name was released Wednesday morning.
Ingham County Medical Examiner Dennis Jurczak said an autopsy showed Hamilton likely was strangled before she was stabbed in the back four times with a kitchen knife.
"When that didn't work out, she was stabbed as a last resort," Jurczak said.
Jurczak said the case is "clearly a homicide," but officials will continue to investigate the exact cause of death.
The Ingham County Prosecutor's Office said the 35-year-old suspect voluntarily turned himself in to Meridian Township police on Tuesday. Bramlett Hamilton, who graduated from MSU in 1989, was arraigned on open murder charges at 55th District Court in Mason. He remained straight-faced throughout the proceedings.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole. Judge Thomas E. Brennan Jr. ordered Bramlett Hamilton held without bail while he awaits a Nov. 18 court hearing.
His attorney, Vincent Green of Lansing, told reporters that his client planned to fight the charges, despite turning himself in.
Bramlett Hamilton was a registered attorney with the State Bar of California until 2001, when he was suspended for failing to pay member fees, according to information provided by the organization. In recent years, Bramlett Hamilton lived in his mother's home.
After he earned a bachelor's degree in social science-international relations from James Madison College, Hamilton attended law school at Stanford University before graduating in 1992.
James Madison College Professor Michael Schechter described Hamilton as "an excellent" student during his years in the college.
"He was obviously an unusually bright kid," Schechter said. "He applied to top law schools and got admitted to almost all of them."
Schechter recalls that he was a member of the Honor's College, and he completed a study abroad to Spain while an undergraduate.
"The only thing I heard about him was mostly from his mother," Schechter said. "She always kept me up to date on his professional career.
"Everyone was shocked about her death in the first place. Of course, a lot of people in the college know his mother."
In 1994, Bramlett Hamilton was admitted into the State Bar of California. He worked as an attorney with the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office until 1999.
"He was a well-respected trial attorney and tried a number of serious felony cases during that period," said David Mann, the office's chief assistant public defender.
"Frankly, we are shocked and saddened to learn of this unfortunate situation."
Steve Eder can be reached at ederstev@msu.edu.
Janet Harp can be reached at harpjane@msu.edu.
