Jury finds Melissa Norris guilty of murder, not guilty of felonious assault; judge says 'justice has been done'

After hearing Melissa Norris take the stand in her own defense Tuesday on the second day of a trial in Highland County Common Pleas Court, a jury of six men and six women deliberated for four hours before finding Norris guilty of murder.

As previously reported, Norris, 50, was indicted by a Highland County grand jury July 11 on charges of murder, an unclassified felony, with a firearm specification; felonious assault, a second-degree felony; and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony. (According to Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins, the tampering with evidence charge was dismissed prior to trial.)

On March 11 at 2:39 p.m., the Hillsboro Police Department responded to 801 Treewood Drive (North West St.), Hillsboro, in reference to a 911 call.

Upon officers' arrival, it was determined that a 53-year-old man had suffered a fatal gunshot wound. The Hillsboro Police Department requested assistance from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, BCI&I for crime scene processing.

Norris was represented at trial by local attorneys William Armintrout and JD Wagoner, while the state was represented by Collins and Assistant Prosecutor Adam King.

At 4:30 p.m., Highland County Clerk of Courts Ike Hodson read the verdicts, with the jury finding Norris guilty of murder, an unclassified felony, and of a related firearm specification, and not guilty of felonious assault, a second-degree felony.

Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss sentenced Norris to three years on the firearm specification, consecutive to a mandatory 15 years to life for the murder charge, for a total minimum of 18 years and maximum of life in prison. She had jail time credit of 155 days.

Prior to sentencing, the judge heard statements from several relatives of the victim, read by either the relatives or by Highland County Victim Witness Director Heather Collins.

The first statement was read by one of the victim’s sisters. She said that Norris had a history of drug problems that led to her eventually becoming “out of control.” She said she thought “years of consuming meth … makes a person inhuman” and that Norris appeared to “quit caring about anything” last year.

“We didn’t take anything from Melissa,” she said. “Melissa let her life be taken away from her by her choices.”

A second sister also read a statement, with Heather Collins eventually taking over as the sister became overcome with emotion. She cried as she spoke about the victim, whom she described as “goofy,” “handsome,” “softhearted” and a skilled musician. She said that her brother “always treated [Norris] with kindness and compassion, whether she deserved it or not.

She pointed out that Norris was unmoved by seeing graphic images of the victim’s dead body on the large-screen TV in the courtroom but was instead upset by hearing herself breathing heavily on the 911 call.

“I’ll never forgive her for how she betrayed him,” she said.

She asked the judge to sentence Norris to the maximum, saying she hopes Norris “never gets out of prison.

“It’s what she deserves, and it’s what [the victim] deserves,” she said.

Heather Collins next read a letter from the victim’s youngest brother, who said the victim was his “protector” and a “kind and sincere” man. He said the victim showed kindness to Norris “despite her bad decisions,” which “accumulated now with this unforgivable crime.” The brother said Norris has “taken so much from this family” and “mercilessly destroyed her own family.”

“I personally wish there were harsher sentences for murder,” the brother’s statement said. “I hope she’s never allowed out of prison until the day after she breathes her last breath, because I know I won’t go a single day without thinking of what she has done to [the victim] and this family until I have taken my very last breath.

“Please, please, please make it mathematically and biologically impossible for her to affect this family in any way in the future.”

Finally, Heather Collins read a statement by the victim’s ex-wife, who spoke about how she and her children have suffered from “a nightmare” since the victim’s death. She said the victim was a “gentle, kind soul” who was “willing to help anyone that was in need.”

“How does someone take the life of a person who has opened their home to them on multiple occasions and provided them a warm place to stay, even though he didn’t have to?” she asked in her statement. “Melissa Norris did just that.”

In the months since the victim’s death, the ex-wife said that her son has suffered from insomnia, lost his job and dealt with the “mental and physical toll” of losing his father.

“These are the things that were ripped away from my son in an instant by Melissa Norris,” she said.

After hearing the victim statements, attorneys for both parties acknowledged that there was only one mandatory sentence to be imposed. When asked by Coss if she wanted to address the court, Norris said, “Not at the present time.” Wagoner did express condolences to the victim’s family.

Coss thanked the family for their statements and for their respectful attendance during the trial. He said that the victim “certainly sounds like an outstanding individual with a very loving family.”

Addressing Norris, Coss said, “It’s hard to understand why he would take you in in the first place.” The judge said it “says a lot about [the victim’s] character,” and “the way [Norris] conducted yourself says a lot about you.

“It’s a senseless murder,” Coss said. “That’s all there is to it. It’s senseless.

“The entire case comes down to the 26 seconds of that 911 call. The first words you hear is you saying ‘You don’t think I’ll do it’ and him saying he has a gun pointed at him in his own apartment, and then you hear the pop, and your comment is, ‘How do I clear this?’”

Coss said it would be “a reasonable inference” that Norris took the victim’s phone from him after he was shot, since she was holding it and can be heard “breathing” on the call.

“Despite the efforts of the dispatchers to try to get you to communicate with them and your opportunity to claim self-defense at that point, you didn’t even speak to them,” Coss said. “You didn’t acknowledge them. The jury didn’t buy your explanation, and I can understand why.

“Certainly, justice has been done in this verdict.”

The murder trial against Norris concluded in Highland County Common Pleas Court Tuesday morning, with Norris taking the stand to argue that she acted in self-defense.

The state presented witnesses throughout the day Monday. To read about the first day of the trial, see the story at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/murder-trial-against-hillsboro-wom….

The defense argued their case Tuesday, with the morning’s proceedings beginning at 8:30 a.m. with Armintrout presenting an opening statement, as the defense had reserved their statement Monday.

Armintrout told the jury that on Tuesday, they would hear from Norris, who would tell them “what happened” March 11 and that she would admit to taking the victim’s life. However, he said that the reason she did it was “self-defense,” and that the “evidence will show she was being assaulted” by the victim. Armintrout told them that Norris “wanted to keep” the victim “off her” but “never intended to kill” him.

The defense’s first witness was a man in the apartment directly below the victim’s, who was the individual who alerted police, when they arrived at the scene, to respond to the victim’s home. He testified that he heard “yells,” “a scuffle,” “stuff knocked over” and “a door slam.” He said he heard a woman yelling at someone to “get off” of her, then a “boom,” and later heard police in the hallway.

When asked by Wagoner for more detail, the man said there was “lots of yelling” and that it sounded like “people were fighting.”

Under cross examination by Collins, the man said he was not sure how much time elapsed between hearing a door slam and a “boom.” When Collins asked what happened in the victim’s apartment, the man admitted he had “no clue” what actually occurred.

The defense’s final witness was Norris. She testified that she was at the victim’s home March 9-11, as he was giving her “a place to stay.” On the day of the incident, she said she woke up, showered and heard a knock at the door 10 to 15 minutes later, with her daughter — who testified against her mother Monday — arriving at the apartment. Norris said that the victim woke up as she and her daughter were talking.

Wagoner asked Norris about the state’s argument that the altercation began over a fight over the victim’s shirt. She said that her daughter mentioned the shirt and that Norris asked the victim if he was wearing her son’s shirt. She said the victim responded “aggressively” that it was his own.

Norris said the victim showed “aggressive, angry behavior” and that she commented that the baseball bat in his living room might also be her son’s. When she went to reach for the bat, she said that the victim “lunged toward” her. Norris said the gun was next to the bat and that the gun got “knocked over” over the incident with the bat.

Wagoner asked if Norris struck the victim with the bat. She said, “Absolutely not.” Wagoner asked if she swung at him, and Norris said, “No.”

Norris testified that the victim grabbed the gun and that “it scared me,” she said. “He was so aggressive.”

She said she wanted to leave because the victim was “so aggressive about the shirt” and that the “way” the victim “grabbed” the bat from her “scared me,” so she said she “ran to the door.”

According to Norris’ testimony, the victim followed her through the living room to the door, “grabbed” her and “slammed me to the ground,” and “bashed [her] head to the floor,” she said. “It was bad.”

Wagoner referred to photos of Norris from March 11 and asked if the swelling to her eye had been present before the incident. “No,” she said. He asked if it was the “result of the attack,” and she said, “Yes.”

Norris was emotional as she said it “felt like forever” that the victim had her on the ground, then they “started scuffling.” She said she was “scratching, hitting, fighting back.”

Wagoner asked if Norris grabbed the gun, and she said she did. He asked why, and she said it was because she was “scared he was coming back at me again.” She said she shot the victim as he was “coming toward me,” and did so because she was “scared to death.”

“I was so shook up and scared,” Norris said. “It happened so fast.

“I saw him coming back towards me and just grabbed it.”

When asked by Wagoner why she remained at the apartment after shooting the victim, she said she was “in shock.”

Wagoner asked about Norris’ interactions with law enforcement and EMS, which she said she “vaguely” remembered. She said she didn’t want EMS to evaluate her because “I’d just been assaulted.

“I didn’t want to be touched or bothered,” she said. “I felt like crawling in a hole.”

Wagoner asked what injuries Norris suffered, and she said she had “knots” on her head and injuries to her back, left arm and hip. “I was pretty banged up,” she said.

“Were you in fear of your life?” Wagoner asked.

“Yes,” Norris said.

Collins then engaged in a lengthy cross examination of Norris where they went through the incident on March 11 as well as some of the comments made by Norris in the ensuing months.

Collins asked if Norris was aware that the victim had “a multitude of pill bottles.” Norris said that was his “private personal” items and she didn’t know. Collins asked about a walker in the living room. Norris confirmed there was one but said she didn’t think the victim “used it.”

Colins asked if Norris was aware that the victim had underwent surgery a couple months prior, and she said she didn’t but knew he “had health problems.”

Collins then asked if Norris knew the victim weighed 134 pounds when he died. She said she did not know his weight, but after more questioning agreed that he was thin.

Discussing the events leading up to the shooting, Norris denied that she was angry at the victim over a shirt and disagreed with her daughter’s testimony over Norris grabbing the bat. She said she also “didn’t hear” that the victim asked her daughter to call 911.

Collins asked if it was Norris heard as the female voice on the 911 call. Norris said, “I don’t know.” Collins asked who was in the apartment at the time, and Norris said she “didn’t know.”

After more questioning, Norris agreed that it “sounds like me” on the 911 call, although she denied saying “How do you clear this” on the call (“I’m not knowledgeable about guns,” she testified).

Collins asked if it was Norris’ voice and the victim “begging for help” on the call, and Norris said it “sounds like it.” Collins asked if Norris is heard asking the victim to “get off me” and she said she didn’t because “it was already said.”

“At no time are you begging for help?” Collins asked.

“No,” Norris said. “I already had.”

Norris said “it happened so fast” when Collins asked for information on where she and the victim were located at the time of the shooting. Collins asked if Norris put the victim’s body in the chair where he was found dead. She said, “No, ma’am.”

“So we can surmise you shot him in the chair?” Collins asked.

“It happened so fast,” Norris repeated, and said that “apparently” the victim “fell in the chair” when she shot him.

Collins showed Norris a photo of the living room and asked her to show where she and the victim were standing. Norris said she had been on the floor “getting up from just being assaulted” when she shot the victim. Collins pointed out a sliding glass door in the photo and asked if Norris could have taken “four steps and walked out.”

“No,” Norris said. “I guess someone could. I wasn’t put in that position.”

Norris agreed that in addition to that door, there was another one in the kitchen area nearby, but again denied that she could have left from that door.

“I’d just been assaulted,” she said. “I was fearing for my life.”

Collins asked if Norris opened the door to let the victim’s dog in after she shot the victim, and she said no. Norris also denied that she “repeatedly told medics” she was fine, saying that she “didn’t want to bee touched.” She said her memory of their examination was “foggy” and “not clear.” Norris was evasive during multiple questions about what she told paramedics after the incident.

“Not until today have you ever told anyone you were in fear for your life, have you?” Collins asked.

Norris said no, saying that she’s “told my attorneys. Who else would I talk to?”

Collins asked if Norris had made phone calls from the jail, and she said, “A couple.” Collins said it was “over 100” calls and asked Norris if she had never brought up self-defense until Nov. 10. Collins asked if it was Norris’ cousin’s idea, and played a recording of a phone call from Norris at the jail to her cousin on Nov. 10.

In the call, Norris and her cousin discuss her recent hearing and the upcoming trial. Norris tells her cousin that she could have taken a plea deal with “15 to life” or “take my chances” at trial and “go down telling it like it really is.” Later in the call, the cousin mentions that Norris can “say she got body slammed.” He says that he was told the victim may have been abusive to women and that he’d wondered if the victim had “beat” Norris. She says, “Exactly.”

Collins asked Norris if the cousin “told you it was self-defense.” Norris said it was “his opinion.” Collins said that was the first time since March that this was “ever mentioned.” Norris responded that she wasn’t even indicted until July. Collins said, “OK, so July to November, that’s the first time it’s ever mentioned,” and Norris said, “No.”

Collins referenced comments she said were made by Norris in jail call audio, including telling her son that she “never shot a gun,” or telling her cousin in a different phone call that if she’d “shot a gun, she’d know.” Norris again got emotional as she said she didn’t remember that.

Collins asked if Norris remembered telling her cousin in another call that her voice being on the 911 call was “absurd.” Norris again said that she had not been indicted yet at that point.

Collins referenced another phone call where Norris said she was “framed.” Norris said she didn’t recall that.

From there, the prosecutor returned to discussing the shooting incident, as she asked Norris to confirm that she and the victim were roughly six feet apart at the time. Norris agreed and said she was in the doorway of the living room and that the victim was between two chairs, as Norris again retold the incident.

Collins asked “what weapon” the victim was holding when Norris “grabbed the gun.” Norris said, “I didn’t have a gun.”

“Can you agree you have to pick up a gun, hold it and shoot?” Collins asked.

“Yes,” Norris said.

Norris said that she did not move anything from where the victim was found. Collins asked if Norris was not in fear for her life because the victim had no weapon, and Norris said, “No.”

Under redirect examination, Wagoner referred to Collins asking why Norris didn’t leave the apartment. Norris said she had tried to leave before and was attacked by the victim.

Norris said the victim was coming toward her and she was “shaking and freaking out” when she pulled the trigger.

“I didn’t mean to shoot him,” she said. “I didn’t mean to kill him. It just happened.”

After a 20-minute recess, the jury heard their first round of instructions, then closing arguments from Collins and Armintrout.

In her first closing argument, Collins reiterated the facts of the case as alleged by the state: that Norris “shot and killed” the victim “after after going after him with a baseball bat” in his apartment on March 11, prompted by a fight over the victim’s T-shirt. Norris can be heard saying “You don’t think I’ll do it?”

Collins said Norris was “not someone in fear for her life” when she said those words. “She’s menacing, taunting.”

Before the dispatcher answers the 911 call (which was already recording), while the victim advises he needs help because he has “a gun pulled on me.” Twenty-five seconds into the call, while the dispatcher is transferring the call to the Hillsboro Police Department, the gunshot is heard.

“She had time to talk, tease and taunt,” Collins said.

In the six minutes of the 911 call, Collins said Norris had time to bring the victim’s dog from outside, move around the apartment, wrap the gun in a shirt and retrieve a coffee cup and the victim’s phone, both of which she was holding when police arrived.

Collins told the jury that they had proven that Norris murdered the victim, but the “question is why.” She said that until Tuesday, Norris “never claimed” that she was “in fear for her life.”

The prosecutor reminded the jury that the victim had “medical problems,” weighed 134 pounds and got “winded going from the kitchen to the living room.” He had “a cooler and a trash can” next to his chair to avoid extra trips to the kitchen, she said.

Collins said that Norris claims the victim “body slammed, tackled and chased” her, but the 911 call depicts “a man … begging for help.” She said that Norris shot the victim “because she was mad about a T-shirt” and “acted in cold blood.

“She literally blew a hole in his head,” Collins told the jury.

In the defense’s closing argument, Armintrout said that he “believes the evidence shows” that Norris acted “in self defense.”

Regarding the felonious assault charge, which is in reference to the baseball bat, Armintrout asked the jury to reach “the same conclusion I did” that there is “no evidence” to support that Norris “swung the bat” at the victim. For the murder charge, Armintrout said that if they had “proven self-defense, then you’ve got to let” Norris go.

Armintrout outlined the testimony of four witnesses: Norris’s daughter and Detective Brian Butler of the Hillsboro Police Department, who testified for the state; and the man in the neighboring apartment and Norris, who testified for the defense.

Armintrout showed the jury a photo of Norris with blood on her face and told them that Norris’ daughter testified that there were “no marks on her mother” when she saw her March 11.

“That’s what [the victim] did to her,” he told the jury.

Armintrout said that Butler testified that Norris was “in shock” and “bloody” but later said that she wasn’t in shock because “the state is trying to put this in a neat package for you.”

The man in the neighboring apartment supported Norris’ testimony because he said he heard “a scuffle” and Norris yelling to “get … off me,” Armintrout said.

For Norris’ testimony, Armintrout said he had “attorney-client privilege” that prevented him from discussing what they had spoken about in the past, but “she doesn’t have to make” her self-defense argument “known before this trial,” he said.

Armintrout told the jury that he didn’t believe a “reasonable person” exists because it is impossible to know what you would do unless you are “in a given situation.

“She shot and killed this man,” he said. “He’s gone. What’s reasonable? I don’t know.

“She acted the way she did. She got beat up, and this man got killed.”

Armintrout asked the jury to “put yourself in” Norris’ position.

“None of us know what would be reasonable at any given moment,” he said. “Melissa is not guilty of murder.

“That’s the only decision you can come to. She had been beaten up. She got the gun, had the gun, the trigger got pulled and he got killed.

“There’s nothing more for me to say because you’ve heard it all,” Armintrout continued. “She’s on trial for her life. She acted in self-defense.”

Collins rebutted several of Armintrout’s statements in her final argument. For the felonious assault charge, Collins said that Norris’ daughter’s testimony was that Norris “went after” the victim with a baseball bat.

“We don’t have to prove that she caused him physical harm; we have to prove that she attempted to,” Collins said. “Had he not stopped her, she was going to hit him. Period. We know her purpose was death today because she picked up a gun and took his life.”  

For the photo of Norris on March 11 with blood on her face, which Armintrout showed to the jury, Collins said “it looks bad.

“Except the testimony is this is not her blood,” Collins said. She showed the jury a photo of Norris’ mugshot, where the blood is not visible. “All it took was a wash rag,” she said.

Like Armintrout, Collins then reviewed the witnesses who testified, as she said most of the witnesses presented by the state were “just relaying facts.” She pointed out that Norris’ own daughter had to testify against her mother, which was “sad.”

Of those testifying, Collins said that Norris is the “only person with motive to be untruthful.” Collins pointed out that Norris was “always ‘positive’” about answering questions on the witness stand until the prosecutor referred to a recording, then “didn’t remember.”

From there, Collins discussed the charges in the case, as she said murder was “easy to prove” because it was not disputed that the incident occurred on or about March 11, in Highland County, that the victim died and that Norris “is the reason.” For the purpose, Collins argued that self-defense was not the cause, as she said that Norris was “angry over a T-shirt” and refused to listen to reason from her daughter before her daughter left the apartment.

Collins pointed out that the victim asked Norris’ daughter to call the cops, then dialed 911 himself, as he was the “only person needing help,” she said. “The person doing the assaulting doesn’t call the cops. He was being assaulted.” She added that Norris was “angry, taunting and menacing” on the 911 call.
 
Collins argued that it could be inferred Norris’ purpose was “to cause death” because “shooting someone in the head or neck is purpose” to do so.

For the firearm specification for the murder charge, Collins said it is “obvious” that Norris had the gun and brandished it because she shot and killed the victim.

Returning to the felonious assault charge, Collins said she wanted to point out that if Norris was in a “battle for her life” with the victim, then the victim should have suffered additional injuries. She said the state doesn’t “allege that” Norris caused harm with the bat, only that she “attempted to cause” harm. Collins argued that the “only reason” Norris didn’t hit the victim with the bat was because “he stopped her.

“We’re not even alleging she struck him,” Collins said. “We know her purpose was to kill, because that’s what she did.”

Collins said the motive for Norris' actions was anger. She argued that Norris admitted to murder and that the only question to consider was whether it was self-defense.

The prosecutor said that a "problem" with Norris' self-defense argument was that the victim was in front of his recliner, while Norris was "steps from a sliding door." Instead of leaving the apartment, Norris "points the gun" at the victim, Collins argued.

Another "problem" was that self-defense is only permissible if the victim also had a weapon, Collins said, and Norris "admitted he didn't have a weapon." The victim was “completely defenseless,” and no weapon was found by the victim’s body.

“The first aggressor cannot claim self-defense,” Collins said, arguing that Norris is the “initial aggressor” because she “went after” the victim first “with a bat.” She told the jury that if Norris “caused the incident,” she “cannot claim self-defense.”

The prosecutor again reminded the jury that the victim weighed 134 pounds, was on medication and recovering from surgery. He was “not a healthy man,” Collins said.

Collins told the jury that Norris had the victim “literally backed in a corner” and “trapped,” while Norris had access to the door and could “get away.”

She again replayed part of the 911 call, from “You don’t think I’ll do it” to the sound of the gunshot. Collins said Norris’’ argument that she “didn’t have time to think” was “proved not true” by the audio because Norris had “25 seconds before she shoots him.” She argued it was “a calculated shooting,” not “a fight for her life.”

Collins added that after shooting the victim, Norris had time to “try to clear the gun,” wrap it up, get a cup of coffee and “let the dog in.”

“She’s thinking about what she’s doing,” Collins said.

The prosecutor pointed out in the 911 call, Norris doesn’t “say anything to indicate she is in fear” while the victim asks for help. She reiterated that Norris was “angry, taunting, menacing and in total control,” then “realizes the gun jammed and tries to get the shell out” after shooting the victim.

Collins told the jury that “in almost 100 calls” between Norris and friends and family from the jail, self-defense was never mentioned until the call played between Norris and her cousin. Instead, Collins said that Norris “went back and forth” on her story until she agreed with her cousin’s assessment that it was self defense.

“Wouldn’t a reasonable person say ‘I didn’t have a choice, I’m fighting for her life?’” Collins asked. “None of that happened. You want to know why? Because it wasn’t the truth. The truth never changes. Lies change.

“The truth is she didn’t need medical attention because she didn’t have any injuries. She didn’t have any injuries because he didn’t do anything. She blew his head off. He did nothing.”

Collins finished her argument by saying that Norris was “angry enough to kill” the victim “over a T-shirt” and that Norris “committed murder” when she killed the victim with a shotgun. Norris also committed felonious assault when she attempted to cause physical harm to the victim with the baseball bat, Collins said.

“I’m asking you to retire to the jury room and find her guilty of all counts,” Collins told the jury.

After hearing their final instructions, the jury received the case around 11:23 a.m., with three alternates excused. At 12:40 p.m., they took a lunch break until 1:50 p.m., then continued deliberations.

The afternoon deliberations included multiple questions regarding legal definitions, the jury instructions and the felonious assault charge. The jury also asked, and was permitted, to listen to a recording of Norris’ daughter’s testimony from Monday. At 4:25 p.m., they knocked on the jury room door and told bailiff Dan Strain that they had reached their verdict.