Alexander Hernandez Gonzalez
Audio By Carbonatix
Brandon David Mumma lasted just minutes in a Jefferson County courtroom Friday afternoon before a judge had the suspect involved in the Jax Gratton case removed.
On March 13, 44-year-old Mumma appeared before First Judicial District Court Judge Jason Carrithers on an arrest warrant stemming from a grand jury indictment charging him with tampering with a deceased human body and tampering with evidence. Both charges stem from the death of Jax Gratton, a 34-year-old Denver hairstylist and transgender woman whose body was found in a locked alleyway in Lakewood nearly two months after she disappeared last April.
Mumma appeared without an attorney. The public defender’s office had been appointed to represent him, but was pulled off the case the day before because of conflict, the judge said. Carrithers told Mumma the hearing was procedural, that his $100,000 cash-only bond would stand, and that bond arguments would wait until he had a lawyer.
But Mumma did not want to wait.
“Your honor, can I speak?” he asked. Carrithers told him no, explaining Mumma should refrain from saying anything that could compromise his defense.
“I fought for this country twice,” Mumma said, “and I don’t get the right to speak?”
Carrithers tried again: “I want to protect all of your rights. This is a very serious thing.”
Mumma kept speaking, however. He told the courtroom he had never been in an argument with Gratton, that they never had any conflict.
Carrithers then gave him two options: sit quietly or be removed to an adjacent courtroom where he could listen over a tablet. Mumma did not take either.
“This isn’t fair, and I didn’t do what everyone thinks that I did,” he said. “Jax told me she loved me the night before… before this all happened.”
Carrithers cut him off and directed a deputy to move Mumma to another courtroom. “I don’t deserve this,” Mumma said before he was led out.
The hearing resumed; Carrithers noted for the record that Mumma had been removed for disruptive behavior and inability to follow instructions.
Prosecutors told the court they had been prepared to argue for a bond and that Gratton’s mother was ready to address the judge, but both sides agreed to defer the issue. Carrithers set the next hearing for 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17, and warned Mumma that courtroom decorum will be required.
Jax Gratton’s Death
Gratton’s body was discovered on June 6 in a narrow, locked space between two buildings, directly below a second-story window of the unit. An air-conditioning grate rested on her lower body, and the A/C unit to the office above was bent and partially askew. The Jefferson County coroner ruled her cause and manner of death undetermined, citing advanced decomposition. Gratton’s family and advocates have criticized Lakewood police for their handling of the investigation and deadnaming Gratton in public statements.
According to the indictment, Mumma and Gratton were in a consensual intimate relationship.
The indictment against Mumma, returned March 9 by a grand jury for Jefferson and Gilpin counties, alleges he removed Gratton’s body, her personal belongings and other evidence from an office at 9655 West Colfax Avenue in Lakewood on April 16, 2025, to avoid detection by police. Security footage shows no one entered or exited the unit where Gratton was left asleep and under the influence of drugs until Mumma returned at 5:55 a.m. He stayed about an hour, moved his car, went back inside, and came out with trash bags he threw into a dumpster, according to the district attorney’s office.
Mumma was arrested on March 11 in Summit County. He has prior encounters with law enforcement there, including a bar fight arrest in Breckenridge in 2017 and a 100-mph motorcycle chase nine days later while still on bond.
No homicide charges have been filed. Mumma is being held in the Jefferson County Jail.
