Neal Augenstein, wtop.com
ROCKVILLE, Md. – The murder of an employee in the Bethesda Lululemon yoga shop by a coworker gripped the region last year. This week, prosecutors will argue Brittany Norwood should never again have the chance to set foot outside of prison.
Norwood’s lawyers will submit a report from a doctor who specializes in head trauma, sources say. But in interviews with the defendant and her father, there is no mention of brain injuries, medical conditions, psychological trauma or emotional episodes that could have triggered the brutal attack on 30-year-old Jayna Murray, sources say.
Prosecutors interviewed 50 of Norwood’s friends, teammates and romantic partners. The only injury she ever told them about was a knee injury, sources say.
Montgomery County prosecutors call Norwood “evil,cunning, a pathological liar” and without remorse for the murder of her co-worker.
Norwood, 29, was convicted of first-degree murder in November.
In a pre-sentencing report obtained by the Washington Post, prosecutors say Norwood is beyond rehabilitation.
Her lawyers say they’re working on a response, but no chance of parole is equivalent to “a death sentence by incarceration.”
In a Friday hearing, the defense will say Norwood needs help for her mental illness.
Before trial, Norwood’s lawyers said they expected to raise an insanity defense in trial, but no mention of her mental health was made to the jury.
Apparently, based on her attorney’s comments, Norwood’s mental illness will be raised as a mitigating factor, before the judge who will sentence her.
Norwood killed Murray inside the Lululemon Athletica shop in Bethesda on the night of March 11. Prosecutors said Norwood used at least a half-dozen weapons inside the store to kill Murray, then lied and told police that they had been attacked by masked men.
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