Norwood Murder Trial Nears Conclusion

Mark Norwood (c) with defense attorney Brad Urrutia (l) (Photo by Jana Birchum)

Mark Norwood's trial for the 1988 North Austin murder of Debra Baker continues this week. 390th District Judge Julie Kocurek called a Wednesday afternoon recess to account for getting ahead of schedule and suggested Wednesday morning that final arguments should be made on Thursday, with a decision potentially reached on Thursday evening. The second week of the trial has been consumed with witness testimony on the 1986 murder of Christine Morton, for which Norwood was convicted in 2013. (Kocurek ruled to allow discussion of the since-decided case on Monday morning after agreeing with the prosecution that the two murders were similar enough to indicate a "signature" crime.) Michael Morton, who wrongly served 24 years in prison for his wife's murder before his exoneration in 2011, testified on Monday morning and may take the stand again. I've been filing dispatches from the courtroom on the Chronicle website intermittently throughout the trial. See austinchronicle.com/daily/news for those reports.