SHAWNEE, Okla. — The "atomic wedgie" killer — who admitted having no excuse for his actions — was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison.

SHAWNEE, Okla. — The "atomic wedgie" killer — who admitted having no excuse for his actions — was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison.

Brad Lee Davis, 35, of McLoud, Okla., pleaded guilty in May to first-degree manslaughter for killing his stepfather late Dec. 21, 2013, after a fight. He admitted to investigators he had done a bad thing, giving his stepfather a wedgie like something done in high school.

Pottawatomie County District Judge John G. Canavan Jr. on Thursday chose the punishment, imposing the prison sentence sought by prosecutors. The judge rejected a defense attorney’s request to give Davis "a second chance."

The victim, Denver Lee St. Clair, 58, died after he was knocked unconscious and the elastic band from his ripped underwear was pulled over his head. The band ended up pressed tightly against his throat, strangling him.

The victim also suffered head wounds that prosecutors say would have been fatal if he hadn’t died from the wedgie first.

The judge said he was troubled Davis took cellphone photos of the unconscious victim even though the victim was gurgling and clearly in distress from the wedgie. The judge also agreed with prosecutors that Davis beat his stepfather with some kind of object and then staged the crime scene to make it look more like an all-out fight.

Davis had been charged with first-degree murder. He had planned to claim at trial that he acted in self-defense but he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter instead. The judge could have sentenced him to as little as four years.

Davis described what he had done in interviews with investigators as an "atomic wedgie." That slang term is widely used for the most humiliating version of the underwear-yanking prank.

Davis, a former Marine, told the judge in May he had meant only to embarrass his stepfather. He told investigators his stepfather started the fistfight. He never admitted to using any kind of object. He also told investigators the two fought because St. Clair had insulted his mother. He called his stepfather a bully.

The two fought inside the victim’s trailer in McLoud. Davis lived in a nearby trailer that he was renting from his stepfather. His mother was in the hospital recovering from hip surgery. He claimed he had intended to stay the night with his stepfather and then the two of them were going to pick up his mother the next day.

Davis expressed remorse in his testimony in May and again in a written statement for a report to the judge.

"The fight ended with Mr. St. Clair face down passed out. After the fight out of anger from the fight with no excuse I pulled Mr. St. Clair’s underwear up over his head," Davis wrote. "I have no good reason to explain this. All I can say is I am so sorry and ashamed of my actions. I truly loved and respected Mr. St. Clair. … He was always my friend."

Davis was cutting wood for a living at the time of the offense. He had been a maintenance worker at a casino before that.

In asking for a 30-year sentence, District Attorney Richard Smothermon told the judge, "This was not mutual combat. This was not self-defense. It was pure aggression."

The unusual way the victim died attracted national attention. The judge expressed sympathy Thursday to the victim’s family for having to endure even more sorrow because of how the death occurred.

"I’m fully aware of the jokes and the way people have talked about it around town," the judge said.

The judge said he will reconsider his decision at a review in a year to 18 months. He urged Davis to take advantage of self-help programs in prison and said "we’ll see how well you do."

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