A jury on Wednesday night found Brittany Norwood guilty of first-degree murder in the beating death of her coworker at a Bethesda yoga.
Deliberations lasted about one hour before the jury returned its verdict against Norwood, who could spend the rest of her life in prison for the slaying of 30-year-old Jayna Murray. Norwood will be sentenced Jan. 27 in Montgomery County District Court.
Prosecutors said Norwood, 29, lured Murray to the Lululemon Athletica in Bethesda where they worked, then brutally beat her to death. Norwood’s attorneys admitted Murray was killed in a fight between the two, but said the attack was not premeditated.
In closing arguments, State’s Attorney John McCarthy tried to portray Norwood as a cunning woman who staged a crime scene and posed as a victim. She faked shoeprints and cut herself “to throw the investigation off, away from her,” he said.
The jury of six men and six women considered charges of first- and second-degree murder. To prove the first-degree charge — for which Norwood could be sentenced to life in prison — prosecutors had to show that the killing was willful, deliberate and premeditated.
McCarthy said the killing was planned, telling jurors that there was enough time for the two to have an argument overheard by employees at the adjacent Apple store, and that Norwood moved around the store during the fight to pick up at least five different weapons.
