Posted on 11/03/2011 11:15:54 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A Montgomery County jury on Wednesday evening found Brittany Norwood guilty of first-degree murder in the horrific slaying of her co-worker at the Lululemon Athletica store in Bethesda.
The six-day trial, which detailed a vicious killing and the dramatic twists and turns of an investigation into an elaborate cover story and a morbidly staged crime scene, ended with the jury presenting its verdict close to 7 p.m. after a little more than an hour of deliberation.
As the verdict was read Wednesday night, an audible “yes” could be heard from the family of the victim, Jayna Murray.
“I want no other family to go through this,” Murray’s mother, Phyllis Murray, said in the foyer to the Montgomery County courthouse afterwards. “The brutality was undescribable.”
Norwood’s family remained silent when the verdict was read. They declined to comment.
Judge Robert A. Greenberg instructed the jury to decide first whether Norwood was guilty of first-degree murder, which requires jurors to believe the crime was premeditated. The guilty verdict on that charge means Norwood faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when she is sentenced Jan. 27.
“That is precisely the sentence we will be seeking from Judge Greenberg at that time,” State’s Attorney John McCarthy said.
If the jury could not agree on first-degree murder, they were told they could convict Norwood on a lesser second-degree murder charge.
Afterward, one juror said the six-man, six-woman panel agreed immediately on the first-degree murder conviction.
“I asked who thought it was first-degree, and everybody’s hand just went up,” said juror Donny Knepper, a 36-year-old criminal defense lawyer.
Norwood’s defense attorney, Douglas Wood, said the Norwood family was disappointed with the verdict.
“I thought I established a pretty good case for second-degree murder,” Mr. Wood said after the verdict was delivered.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
If this is murder one, she should get the death penalty if available.
(Following excerpt indicates the full extent of the violence visited upon Jayna)
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“I think if you just ‘lose it’ you stick with the same weapon,” Mr. McCarthy said, discussing the multiple weapons “ including a hammer, knife, merchandise peg, rope and box cutter” believed to have been used in the slaying. “There is a conscious decision to re-arm because what you’re doing is not getting the job done.”
The last witness to testify in the case, deputy medical examiner Mary Ripple, said Wednesday morning that at least five weapons caused the 331 identifiable wounds she documented across Murray’s body.
Autopsy photos of Murray showed 37 cuts on her badly bruised head and face and the likely death blow a stab wound in the back of her neck that cut through to her brain.
“That area of your brain is pretty critical to you being able to function. She wouldn’t have lived very long after that,” said Dr. Ripple, adding she believed Murray was alive for most of the blows.
“She would not have been able to have any voluntary movement to defend herself,” she said.
And during some or most of that time, there were employees next door at the Apple store listening to the screams. That must haunt them for their life.
Sadly, since it’s in Maryland, this butcher won’t get the death penalty.
She is not death penalty eligible in Maryland. In order to be, you have to a “mass murder” or “serial killer”.
That’s horses***! Damn Liberals!
Why doesn’t the local media call this what it is — A HATE CRIME!!
Instead, blowhards like Fox5News’ Allison Seymoour asks whether it was pre-meditated or not.
The Cannibalistic Britney Norwood stabs the victim 332 times. Yup! Pre-Meditation galore, Allison!
And you just KNOW that if Jayna (Caucasian) had been the killer of Britney (African-American) instead of the other way around, the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be blowing their megaphones in downtown Bethesda every single day after the murder and throughout the trial!
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Hard to believe someone capable of that much mayhem wouldn’t have shown signs of instability beforehand.
As it should.
That area is restaurant central for Bethesda Md. Several police cars patrol that sector every night. A 911 call would have had at least one car on site in 3 or four minutes. The area while dense is really quite small.
Those Apple employees also have friends and family that now know what the consequences of their inaction. They're marked forever as being cowardly and not to be relied on.
IIRC after she was charged, the early news reports mentioned that she had stolen or was suspected of stealing from her dorm friends. What ever happened when she was a juvenile was either sealed or unreported.
Good point to call Chris about.
Special services for inmates include: degree programs from Anne Arundel Community College, religious services, an annual fall revival, and financial literacy classes. The prison allows certain inmates to raise puppies. Last year, a Wiccan group was formed.
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Now that's hard time. (Sarc off)
Certainly - this was an outburst of generationally instilled racial rage.
agree.
I have.
I’ve e-mailed him and Michael Piercey about this (and Nehman) and they’ve ignored me.
“They’re marked forever as being cowardly and not to be relied on.”
At the least; at worst, uncaring and callous.
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