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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Jury finds woman guilty in alumna murder case

A jury determined Wednesday evening that Brittany Norwood is guilty of first-degree murder for killing of her coworker alumna Jayna Murray in March,.

Prosecutors gave a step-by-step account of attack on the 30-year-old alumna across six days of trials, according to The Washington Post. A medical examiner told the court Murray suffered 331 different wounds from Norwood’s stabbings and beatings at the Lululemon Athletica yoga shop in Bethesda, Md. where she worked and was found dead.

Montgomery County Police arrested Norwood in late March for first degree murder in late March, suspecting she beat and stabbed Murray after they found discrepancies in her accounts of that night. Norwood told police she and Murray were sexually assaulted by two masked men, a claim they could not find evidence to substantiate.

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy asked jury members to do “simple math” to calculate how long it would take Norwood, 28, to cause all the injuries, according to The Post. He said it would take 16 nonstop minutes.

“Defense lawyers did not dispute that Norwood killed Murray. They said she simply snapped, and argued that it was not premeditated murder, a distinction that could have make a big difference in the resolution of the case,” The Post reported.

The report also describes details revealed during the trial about the state in which Norwood and Murray were found. Police officers discovered Murray dead at the back of the yoga shop, while Norwood was tied up in a bathroom, according to The Post.

The defense attorneys did not attempt to rebuke claims that Norwood killed her coworker, according to The Post, but disputed the idea that the murder was premeditated.

“The distinction could make a big difference in Norwood’s punishment: In Maryland, premeditated murder carries the possibility of life with no chance for parole, while second-degree murder carries a maximum of 30 years in prison with a chance for release after 15 years,” according to The Post.

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