A 19-year-old Kentucky man who admitted to setting up a cellphone and recording himself as he beat his grandmother to death could spend the rest of his life in prison.
On Tuesday, Kenton County Circuit Judge Patricia M. Summe sentenced Wyatt Testerman to life in a state correctional facility, with a chance for parole after 20 years, for killing 74-year-old Cheri Oliver in October 2024. Testerman pleaded guilty but mentally ill in May to one count of murder.
As Law&Crime previously reported, prosecutors said Testerman meticulously prepared for the attack inside Oliver’s Erlanger home: he closed the blinds, rolled up the living room rug and moved furniture before shoving his grandmother to the floor. He then punched her more than 40 times, stomped on her roughly a dozen times and repeatedly struck her with a “metal drinking tumbler,” inflicting the blunt-force head injuries that killed her.
During the assault, prosecutors alleged, Testerman paused to check Oliver’s pulse and said, “How the f— is she still breathing?” before grabbing the tumbler and continuing the beating. Court filings also alleged he had warned beforehand that Oliver would “suffer the consequences,” while his mother told investigators she struck him with a cane in a failed attempt to stop the attack.
The case had been headed toward trial before Testerman abandoned plans to pursue an insanity defense. During his plea hearing, he admitted he had abused LSD for an extended period and attacked his grandmother “without reason,” while his attorney argued he was suffering from a drug-induced psychotic episode that did not meet Kentucky’s legal standard for insanity because it resulted from voluntary drug use.
That argument resurfaced at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, when defense attorney Timothy Schneider urged Judge Patricia Summe to impose the minimum sentence, saying nothing in Testerman’s background suggested he was capable of such violence outside the psychotic state drugs brought on.
Testerman apologized to his family, telling the court, “I pray every day that she knows how much I love her and how sorry I am for what I did,” Cincinnati-based NBC affiliate WLWT reported.
The defendant also acknowledged he initially believed he had acted in self-defense before later realizing those beliefs were delusional, according to a report from the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Prosecutors argued the evidence told a different story. Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders called it “the most premeditated murder I’ve ever seen,” the Enquirer reported, pointing to video showing Testerman preparing the room before the attack and text messages he sent beforehand, including one that read, “She will be beaten to a pulp. No mercy for terrorists.”
Sanders argued that Testerman’s psychosis had always been tied to his voluntary drug use and said the calculated steps he took before the killing undermined the defense’s request for leniency. After the hearing, he described Oliver’s death as “horrifically violent” and told WKRC, “The commonwealth is not in the forgiveness business, we are in the justice business.”
Summe acknowledged Testerman’s youth and said she believes in the possibility of redemption, but found the video evidence left little room for mercy.
“I don’t think it’s just about drugs … there was nothing that said that you were on drugs at that point,” the judge said, according to the Enquirer. “If you could do this to your grandmother, I don’t know what you could do to the rest of the community.”
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