Melissa Nicole Norris

Name

Melissa Nicole Norris

Background

Melissa Nicole Norris was 15 years old at the time of the murder. She was in the ninth grade and could read and understand English. Her family lived on Johns Road in Thomson.

Her mother, Sharon Norris, was present for the entire police interview. Her brother, Clifton Norris, was 20 years old.

The offence

Melissa Nicole Norris was found guilty of the malice murder of her father. Her father was Charles Barry Norris, 39 years old. The body was found slumped on the living room couch with a single gunshot to his head.

The jury was given evidence that, after an argument with her father, Norris took a pistol and shot him in the back of the head at close range. Expert medical testimony showed that the victim died as the result of a contact range gunshot to the back of his head.

Norris confessed to her brother and to police that following an argument with her father, she got a pistol and shot him at close range in the back of the head.

During trial, Norris testified and recanted her signed confession. She claimed the statement was a fabrication resulting from long hours of police questioning and a desire to protect her older brother Clifton. Under cross-examination, she said:

"I didn't know what Clifton told them, so I told (police) I did it and it was an accident,"

She also testified that she heard her father and brother arguing from her bedroom on the afternoon the murder occurred. She said:

"I just turned my TV up like I always did, so I wouldn't hear it,"

She said the fatal gunshot brought her out of her room and she saw Clifton standing there with a gun:

"I saw Clifton standing there with a gun and daddy was dead,"

She testified that her brother persuaded her to take the blame to protect him from a life sentence, stating:

"Clifton told me that I wouldn't get in any trouble and I would probably go to juvenile hall for a little while and then come home and everything would be back to normal,"

Defense counsel Michael Garrett told jurors that Norris did not pull the trigger and that evidence would point to her brother as responsible for the fatal bullet.

The prosecution told jurors that her father's dislike of his daughter's friends and the threat of restriction motivated Norris to commit murder.

Investigation

A police statement was taken by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. In the statement, Norris related that she took a .38-caliber revolver from her brother’s room, approached her father from behind, and shot him once at point-blank range in the back of the head.

The statement included Norris’s claim:

"I didn't know the gun was loaded,"
said Melissa Nicole Norris, according to the statement taken by Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent Tony Williamson.

A waiver of rights form was presented as evidence. During the evening after the murder, Norris told police where to find the murder weapon: his own .38-caliber revolver disposed of in a trash bin behind a Thomson Pizza Hut.

Defense counsel argued that the statement should be excluded because it was taken despite requests to speak with a lawyer by Norris’s mother, Sharon Norris. Testimony from Agent Williamson and McDuffie County sheriff’s investigator Jerry Stanphill contradicted Sharon Norris’s claims.

In describing the police interview circumstances, the appellate decision recorded that a juvenile waiver-of-rights form was read in its entirety to, and signed by, Norris and her mother. It also recorded that when Sharon Norris twice asked whether an attorney was necessary, the detective specifically told her that the decision of whether to speak to an attorney belonged to both her and Norris, and that each time Sharon Norris indicated that the interview could continue. It also recorded that Norris had not invoked the right to remain silent or asked that questioning cease, and that she did not recant her confession until trial.

Arrest

Norris confessed in the early morning hours after her father was found murdered. The appellate decision noted that the crimes occurred on December 20, 1995, and that Norris gave a custodial statement prior to trial.

Trial

The jury trial resulted in a guilty verdict against Norris.

The jury was described as consisting of three men and nine women. Norris sank into her seat sobbing silently following the jury’s verdict, while faces in the courtroom reacted with shock and sorrow.

During questioning and testimony:

• Defense counsel sought to establish that it was Clifton who had possession of the gun before the killing and that he told police where to find it afterward.

• Defense counsel told jurors that Clifton had used his influence over his 15-year-old sister to persuade her to take the rap. Garrett said:

  "Clifton had cleverly put his sister between himself and harm's way - between him and the law,"

• Defense counsel argued that Norris’ brother had the motive and the means, referring to the stormy relationship between Clifton Norris and their father.

During closing, defense counsel Michael Garrett argued jurors should not base a murder conviction on Clifton Norris’s statements, saying:

"His story just doesn't add up. Are you really going to base a murder conviction on this young man's statements?"

The prosecutor Dennis Sanders dismissed Norris’s revelations about her brother as a cynical attempt to escape justice, saying:

"This is a secret ambush tactic,"
"There's no reason for this concocted story."

Sanders accused defense counsel of trying to confuse the jury, saying:

"There's only one side of the truth. The other side is a lie,"

Sanders said Norris’s new story was phony, and that her tearful courtroom displays of emotion were also an act, saying:

"It was an act,"
"You have an absolute duty to find the truth in this case,"
he told the jury.

The appellate decision stated that evidence showed Barry Norris was found shot to death in his home, and that Norris, who was 15 years old, confessed to her brother and to police that, after an argument with her father, she took a pistol and shot him in the back of the head at close range. It also stated that the evidence was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to have found Norris guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which she was convicted.

Sentencing

After the jury verdict, Superior Court Judge Purnell Davis II sentenced Norris to life plus five years in prison for her convictions of murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a weapon while in the commission of a felony.

The appellate decision stated that aggravated assault was merged into the murder count. The trial court entered judgments of conviction for malice murder and the weapons charge and sentenced Norris to life imprisonment and to a consecutive five-year term.

The appellate decision did not state the specific incarceration eligibility terms, but the August 8, 1997 account quoted District Attorney Dennis Sanders saying Norris may be eligible for parole in 2010.

Appeals

Norris appealed. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the malice murder conviction.

The appellate decision described the issue on appeal as whether, given Norris’s age, she understood what she was doing in waiving her constitutional rights prior to giving a statement to police.

Justice George Carley wrote:

"Considering the totality of the circumstances, we conclude that the trial court did not err in finding that (Ms. Norris) knowingly and voluntarily waived her rights."

The appellate decision stated:

• A motion for new trial was denied.
• Norris appeals pursuant to the trial court’s grant of a motion for out-of-time appeal.
• Judgments were affirmed.
• All the Justices concur.

The case name was listed as NORRIS v. The STATE, No. S07A0978, with a decision date of September 24, 2007. The narrative also included that the Supreme Court denied appeal in 1995 murder.

Outcome

Judgments were affirmed on appeal. Norris remained sentenced to life imprisonment plus five-year term.

Other details

During trial, there was a dispute about who pulled the trigger:

• Norris confessed in a police statement that she took a .38-caliber revolver from Clifton’s room and shot her father in the back of the head at point-blank range.
• Norris testified at trial that she did not shoot her father, and that she told police she did it and that it was an accident because Clifton persuaded her to take the blame.

The appellate decision referenced that the interview was conducted at 3:30 a.m., and that when confronted with accusations, Norris became upset and began crying, while also stating there was not evidence the interrogation was “abusive or overly long.” It also stated that Norris was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, had access to food, drink, and a restroom, did not refuse to give a statement, and did not recant her confession until trial.

Timeline

• December 20, 1995 — Charles Barry Norris was shot to death at his home; his body was later found on the living room couch with a single gunshot to his head.
• February 28, 1996 — A grand jury returned an indictment.
• August 6, 1997 — Norris’s murder trial began; defense argued her brother had motive and means.
• August 7, 1997 — The jury found Norris guilty; the trial court entered judgments of conviction and sentences; sentencing to life imprisonment plus five years occurred after the verdict.
• August 8, 1997 — Norris testified and recanted her confession.
• August 13, 1997 — A motion for new trial was filed.
• March 12, 2001 — The motion for new trial was denied.
• March 1, 2006 — A motion for out-of-time appeal was filed.
• January 11, 2007 — The motion for out-of-time appeal was amended.
• January 30, 2007 — The motion for out-of-time appeal was granted.
• February 19, 2007 — Norris filed a notice of appeal.
• March 20, 2007 — The case was docketed in the court.
• May 14, 2007 — The case was submitted for decision.
• September 24, 2007 — The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the convictions and judgments.
• September 27, 2007 — A report described the Supreme Court’s recent affirmation of the malice murder conviction.