A Wellston woman who was scheduled to go on trial earlier this week in the death of a Carney man has entered a guilty blind plea and her sentencing has been scheduled.
Janelle Bertha Brown, 39, was formally charged July 14, 2023 in Lincoln County District Court with first degree murder, accessory to murder, unlawful removal of a dead body and desecration of a human corpse.
Clyde Dean Clayton, 42, of Sioux City, Iowa was also charged in Lincoln County Court at the same time with the same counts.
Each is being held in the Lincoln County Jail without bond.
Appearing recently at a dispositional hearing before District Judge Sarah Bridge, Brown withdrew her previous plea of not guilty and entered a guilty blind plea on Counts 1, 3 and 4. The state moved to dismiss the accessory to murder count.
Brown entered the guilty blind plea to first degree murder–deliberate intent, unlawful removal of a dead body and desecration of a human corpse. Judge Bridge had advised Brown of the 85 percent crime.
The judge received the pleas and ordered a presentence investigation and scheduled sentencing at 9 a.m. on Dec. 10, 2024.
Assistant District Attorney Rachel Thompson prosecuted the case for the state and Brown’s defense attorney was Shelley Levisay.
Supplemental information filed in the case by Assistant District Attorney Kelly Trimble shows Brown has a prior conviction on May 1, 2018 in the District Court of Dakota County, Neb., for the felony offense of theft over $5,000.
Clayton and Brown have been in jail since their arrest on July 7, 2023.
Clayton’s jury trial was underway this week.
At the conclusion of their preliminary hearings in December of 2023, each was bound over on charges of first degree murder, accessory to murder, unlawfUl removal of a dead body and desecration of a human corpse.
In a multi-page probable cause affidavit, investigators with the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office detail their interviews with both Clayton and Brown and others they talked with during their probe.
The investigators also requested assistance from both the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the State Medical Examiner’s Office.
According to the affidavit, on May 12 this year, Deputy Kevin Roe was first dispatched to a residence on East 840 Road in Lincoln County regarding a welfare check on Brian Corey. The reporting person was Trudi Corey and she stated she hadn’t heard from Brian in over a week.
Trudi was Brian’s ex-wife, the affidavit states.
Brian’s sister, Rebecca Suhr also called in, wanting to report him as a missing person, saying she hadn’t heard from him since June 5.
During the course of separate interviews by investigators, Brown and Clayton accused one another of shooting and killing Brian Corey.
According to the affidavit, Brown claims she was outside after she and Corey got into an argument and that he and Clayton remained inside and were doing drugs (meth) while she was mowing the lawn.
When she went back into the house, she found Corey slumped over in a recliner and he had been shot in the neck and was not breathing.