Norton convicted of killing wife, again

This time, Norton had court-appointed attorney Lisa Maguire who bluntly told jurors her client’s girlfriend was the real killer and asked them not to believe the two young Norton sons who formed the backbone of the prosecution case.

On Thursday afternoon, less than a day after beginning deliberations, jurors returned guilty verdicts on the counts sought by the prosecution which prosecutor Al Giannini said was a testament to the boys’ credibility.

“I am so very glad the family can finally start the healing process. They are people of enormous faith, dignity and personal strength, but the burden they have been bearing through all of this was enormous,” Giannini said.

The boys, 7 and 9 at the time of their mother Tamika Mack Norton’s July 22, 2006 murder, told jurors they heard her scream their name that morning. The elder, Quincy Jr., also testified he saw his father holding her down on the bed and that he calmly told him to return to his room. Less than a minute later, Norton came out of the bedroom, scooped up his sons and 1-year-old daughter and left the home.

The short time frame was one reason it was impossible for Norton to have killed his wife that morning, according to Maguire, who had argued the boys were confusing that day with a previous incident.

Aside from the Norton children’s testimony, the Norton case also included disparate explanations for how the DNA of Norton’s girlfriend, Anitra Johnson, arrived at the Norton home on Mira Vista Court. The defense used it as proof Johnson actually killed Tamika Norton while the prosecution said the DNA could have been deposited any number of ways and any number of times prior to the time of the crime.

At its crux, jurors were asked to decide who Norton was - an admitted wife beater who killed his wife when she sought a divorce or an innocent man whose girlfriend killed her romantic rival because she thought the couple were remaining together.

Giannini called the defense story that Johnson took Norton’s keys, stranding him at her Milpitas home, and drove to Daly City to kill Tamika Norton in anger sparked by his arriving late for bowling “stupid.”

Maguire said Johnson was a woman scorned, with a violent temper.

The defense called Johnson as a witness but she invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Although Norton did not testify on his own behalf, Maguire told jurors he came home to find his wife in a pool of blood and fled with the children out of fear he’d be suspected. He did not call 911 and later dropped the kids off with his brother’s common-law wife and remained at large for five weeks before surrendering.

Giannini told jurors to question why Norton wouldn’t seek help or ask his sons what happened if he was not the killer. He said Tamika Mack Norton did not scream again after calling his sons’ names because she feared Norton would harm them. If the killer was Johnson, she would not have had that same concern.

Norton remains in custody on no-bail status.

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102.