A new plea agreement has been reached for Levi Norwood, who was 17 when he allegedly shot and killed his mother, Jennifer, and 6-year-old brother Wyatt, and wounded his father, in February 2020, in their Midland, Virginia home.
This past January, in an apparent last-minute decision, Norwood, who was in court to enter a plea, told a Fauquier County judge he wanted to go to trial. Circuit Court Judge James Plowman set the case for trial, beginning in February 2023.
Now, court records filed Monday show prosecutors and Norwood’s public defender have reached a proposed plea agreement, and a plea hearing is set for Aug. 22.
Fauquier County Commonwealth’s Attorney Scott Hook and public defender Ryan Ruzic have not immediately responded to WTOP requests for comment about the proposed agreement.
Since the Feb. 14, 2020 crime, Norwood has undergone two psychiatric evaluations — Ruzic hasn’t revealed the findings. While his attorney earlier was considering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, Norwood has repeatedly been found competent to stand trial.
As WTOP reported in July 2020, charging documents said that on the day of the shootings, Norwood told his girlfriend, earlier that day, while at school “that he wanted to kill his mother.” The girlfriend also said Norwood was depressed and anxious, and told her he was schizophrenic and would see “shadow people.”
Ruzic has not filed a motion alerting prosecutors of an intention to use an insanity defense, suggesting the psychiatric evaluations determined Norwood was not insane at the time of the offenses.
