Woman who killed co-worker at Maryland yoga shop convicted of first-degree murder; could face life

[The Northerner]

ROCKVILLE, Md. — A woman who killed her co-worker in an upscale suburban Washington yoga clothing shop was convicted of first-degree murder on Wednesday and faces the prospect of life in prison.

The Montgomery County jury deliberated for a little more than an hour before returning the verdict against 29-year-old Brittany Norwood, who showed no expression as the decision was read.

There was no dispute in the weeklong trial that Norwood had killed 30-year-old Jayna Murray inside the Lululemon Athletica shop in affluent Bethesda on the night of March 11. The only question for jurors was whether the killing was premeditated and an act of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors portrayed Norwood as a calculating and ruthless murderer who lured Murray back to the store after closing and attacked her with about a half dozen instruments — including a hammer, knife and wrench — then doctored the crime scene and concocted an elaborate fable that pinned the blame on two masked men.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/jury-begins-deliberations-in-maryland-yoga-shop-killing/2011/11/02/gIQAahzZgM_story.html

[MADem]

1. Jesus Christ on a Bicycle--all this over workplace theft? DAMN.

Who wants to be this woman's cellmate? Knife wound to the BRAIN?

In the end, the jury appeared swayed by the prosecution’s description of Norwood as a cunning criminal. Juror Donny Knepper said he was struck by the sheer number of wounds Murray suffered; a medical examiner counted at least 331 separate injuries, including a fatal knife wound to the brain.

“How could that be anything but premeditation?” said the 36-year-old Knepper.

A judge’s ruling prevented both sides from discussing the reason for the fight, but prosecutors have said Murray caught Norwood with stolen merchandise from the store and that Norwood stood to lose her job if the theft was reported.

[pacalo]

2. That would be a death sentence for a cellmate, wouldn't it.

It can't be said enough, that if we lived among a caring & giving society, this dangerously unstable woman would be sent to a mental hospital -- for others' sake as well as hers.

...331 separate injuries, including a fatal knife wound to the brain.

:scared:

[Glimmer of Hope]

4. The number of injuries is shocking. Certainly indication that she

is mentally ill. What a horrible case.

[Cid_B]

7. Basing that on what again?

Maybe she is just a murdering SOB...

[Lance_Boyle]

9. Precisely how is this any indication of 'mental illness?'

Must people on DU try to excuse *every* murder committed by a female with this lame-ass trope?

[Pithlet]

12. Right, because no one here does that when it's a male...

Except when they do. In fact, the last murder I read about here involved a male, and indeed people speculated on his mental frame of mind.

[Chan790]

16. Having followed this case closely, I never heard any evidence that she's insane.

Being an evil calculating person who plans in great detail the murder of a friend and coworker to conceal the theft of <$100 worth of gym clothes does not make one mentally-ill per-say. There are a lot of causes that contributed to this crime...it does a disservice to include mental illness among them without any proof.

Brittany Norwood is precisely the sort of person that a "caring & giving society" throws in a prison cell and leaves there; the sort of perpetrator that life-imprisonment without parole was invented for.

I do feel bad for her cellmates though.

[hfojvt]

21. it's not about the $100 of gym clothes

that theft had quite serious consequences. Losing your job in this economy is very serious. It can mean the loss of a home, the loss of children, etc. Suddenly people here cannot understand why somebody would be desperate to not lose their job?

[Chan790]

24. Having recently been fired...

I understand why someone would be desperate to not lose their job...however I at no point entertained murdering anybody.

That theft had consequences in that she thought she was going to jail so she murdered the witness. She deserves zero sympathy and will get none from me.

[Blue_Tires]

20. I'm reminded of another completely irrational reaction by an embezzling employee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSA_Flight_1771

[petronius]

23. Freaky, I'd never heard of that

The investigation was really impressive - to find the air-sick bag and a fragment of finger print in such devastation must have taken serious skill...

[Blue_Tires]

25. yeah, that incident got dozens of new rules in place because of it

[MADem]

30. I guess it helped that the thing didn't do thetotal "action movie" fireball thing...

and there was stuff left to find.

The call to the girlfriend and the admission by the lender of the gun didn't hurt, either:
http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/PSA-1771_N450PS.htm
Patricia Goldman, head of the National Transportation Safety Board's on-site investigators, said they could find "no apparent problems with the aircraft, frame, structure or engines" that would have led to the crash. But it was determined several days later by the FBI and NTSB investigators, after the discovery of both the handgun containing six spent bullet casings and the note written on the air-sickness bag, that Burke was the person responsible for the crash.

In addition to the evidence uncovered at the crash site, other factors surfaced: Burke's co-worker admitted to having lent him the gun, and Burke's farewell message on his ex-girlfriend's telephone answering machine. But the “smoking gun” came with a grisly discovery: one of Burke's thumbs, identified by its print, proving he had boarded the flight, and a Smith and Wesson .44 magnum revolver with six empty casings.

I was out of the country when this happened; it's news to me so I did some reading on it. Astounding.

[MADem]

29. Jesus--PSA....I remember them flying in/out of San Diego. That's insane to do that over

getting fired for petty theft...

[RandySF]

3. you know things are bad

when people are killing each other at a yoga shop.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

5. I can tell you

This certainly isn't the yoga I practice.

Ommmmmmmmmmm!

[HughBeaumont]

6. Since WaPo's crack reporting team couldn't be bothered to show pics of the two, I guess I have to.

[justiceischeap]

13. I think race isn't a consideration in this matter

I've followed the story (since I live in the area) and what Norwood did was wrong on so many levels that have nothing to do with race. You don't beat someone beyond recognition because they threaten to get you fired.

[HughBeaumont]

27. Let it be known that I only posted the pictures because WaPo didn't post the pictures.

I consider it shoddy journalism when a story that demands a visual includes none . . . like last week, when Yahoo talked about the reformed skinhead removing his facial tats, they included no photos in their story. More than one reader called them on that, and it was corrected.

What race the two women were doesn't matter to me. A human killed another human is all I see it as.

[Dorian Gray]

8. Bizarre

Life in prison is pretty much what she deserves for her actions. This crime makes no sense.

It's funny because I have a friend who worked at Lululemon, and she quit because of the required "perkiness" level. (Perky is the wrong word, but she said that everyone there was super chipper and upbeat and positive about life, and her sarcastic personality didn't fit in so well.)

She misses her discount for the $100 yoga pants, though! (So do I!)

[Vattel]

10. I hate when they interview jurors.

It just convinces me that we need to get rid of juries. The idea that the number of wounds proves premeditation is crazy.

[yellowcanine]

11. It was more than that. She told the victim she left her wallet in the store to lure her back.

Then there was evidence that the attack lasted for a very long time with multiple "weapons", with the victim attempting to escape. Generally when someone just "loses it" they will stick with one weapon and use it over and over - not search around for something to finish off the victim. If they are firing a gun they may keep firing until the gun is empty but they do not then go and get something to bash in the victim's head. The prosecutor made the argument that this indicated that the intent was to kill with the goal of ensuring silence on the part of the victim. This evidence plus the "wallet deception" is pretty convincing - certainly seems to go well beyond "reasonable doubt" that at some point prior to the actual attack a plan was made to kill the victim. Regardless of how the juror was quoted, it was much more than just the number of wounds.

[Vattel]

28. good. it sounds like the quote didn't do justice to the reasoning

that, at least hopefully, the jurors used to reach their conclusion.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[justiceischeap]

15. It took place at Lululemon, a yoga clothing store. nt

[Beacool]

17. This was a particularly heinous crime.

The ferocity with which Norwood attacked Murray is sickening.

She'll have plenty of time in jail to think of the consequences of her actions.

:-(

[TwilightGardener]

18. I had no idea there could be a store that sells clothes just for yoga.

[Blue_Tires]

19. Who steals merchandise from a yoga chothing shop?

isn't most of that stuff, if not all, made in China for pennies? Unless they really meant she was stealing from the register or something...

[Happyhippychick]

22. This happened one block from my office. Norwood blamed it on two black men. I hope she rots.

[ZombieHorde]

26. Why is this "On the Fence?" What is the controversy? nt