Levi Norwood was scheduled to walk into a Fauquier County, Virginia, courtroom on Thursday and either enter a plea or schedule a trial for allegedly killing his mother and brother and wounding his father last year at their home in Midland.
However, Norwood鈥檚 public defender told a judge he had not been provided with the results of all the tests taken, during Norwood鈥檚 second court-ordered psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he was sane at the time of the shooting.
Norwood was 17 when police say he killed his mother, Jennifer, and 6-year-old brother, Wyatt, and wounded his father, Joshua, on Feb. 14, 2020.
Public defender Ryan Ruzic told Circuit Court Judge James Plowman: 鈥淭he Commonwealth has made an offer that my client is considering. Given his youth, I鈥檇 like him to have an extraordinary amount of time to consider the offer.鈥�
Earlier evaluations have found Norwood competent to stand trial, but the findings of the doctors about whether he was sane at the time of the killings have not been made public by the defense.
Given the fact that Norwood鈥檚 lawyer asked for, and was granted a second evaluation, by a second doctor, it鈥檚 unlikely that the initial evaluation determined that he was unable to understand the consequences of his actions at the time his family members were shot.
Yet, Ruzic said he had not received results of all the tests his client took from Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services.
Ruzic and Fauquier County Commonwealth鈥檚 Attorney Scott Hook said they weren鈥檛 sure why the complete report wasn鈥檛 forwarded.
鈥漈hey decided what they got to release and what they got to keep secret,鈥� Ruzic told Plowman.
In asking for a short delay to receive the missing reports, Ruzic assured the judge, 鈥淲e鈥檒l either be ready to go [with a plea agreement] or need to set a date,鈥� for trial. Hook did not object to waiting for the defense to receive the missing paperwork, 聽鈥渂efore we reach an agreement.鈥�
Each of the first-degree murder counts Norwood faces carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. His attorney would have until 30 days before trial to announce an intention to argue Norwood was not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the killings.
In April 2020, Norwood鈥檚 father was found dead at the family home, apparently by suicide.
As 海角精品黑料 reported in July 2020, charging documents said Norwood told his girlfriend at school earlier 鈥渢hat he wanted to kill his mother.鈥� The girlfriend also said Norwood was depressed and anxious, and had confided he was schizophrenic and would see 鈥渟hadow people.鈥�
