May 2, 2008

Man accused of stabbing wife testifies

Daly City resident says his 'marriage wasn't some happy thing'

Caitlin Cassady / Bay City News

While being questioned Thursday by a San Mateo County deputy district attorney, a Daly City man accused of fatally stabbing his wife in 2006 said that his "marriage wasn't some happy thing."

While being questioned by Deputy District Attorney Al Giannini, Quincy Dean Norton Sr., 33, said that the day he got home after marrying Tamika Norton, 31, he went to Anitra Johnson's house, a woman with whom he has a daughter. He said that he also had "several women friends" throughout his and his wife's tumultuous relationship.

Daly City police found Tamika Norton's body on July 22, 2006, in their Mira Vista Court home.

Quincy Norton said that previous testimony by Tamika Norton's family members who stated that he had assaulted her was a "fabrication" and that he never did anything but push his wife when she was "assaulting him."

Tamika Norton filed charges against Quincy Norton in 2003 for domestic violence, but later recanted and said that Johnson had beaten her up.

He also said that his son Quincy Norton Jr., 11, told the court things that were untrue, like the fact that he saw his father standing over his mother after his mother screamed, or that his father apologized to him for striking Tamika Norton.

"He said a lot of things in court I was surprised at," Quincy Norton said of his oldest son's testimony.

Quincy Norton said that he spent the night before his wife's death at Johnson's house and that they had a fight because he told her he was going to marriage counseling with Tamika Norton. After the fight, Quincy Norton said Johnson left the home, possibly with his car and house keys, because he could not find them.
He said he awoke at Johnson's house early in the morning to hear her washing her hands in the bathroom and when she emerged she told him where his keys were.

Quincy Norton said that when he left Johnson's house in the morning of July 22 he went home to find his wife dead on the floor of their Mira Vista Court bedroom.

Johnson was supposed to testify in court Wednesday but used her Fifth Amendment right and did not speak regarding the case.
Mark Powell, a forensic scientist, testified that two DNA samples found in the Nortons' kitchen could have been left by Johnson. Powell said there was not enough DNA evidence to exclude Johnson, but not enough to positively identify the DNA matter as hers either.

However, Powell could not say whether the samples were a primary transfer, meaning that Johnson left them herself, or a secondary transfer where her DNA was left on Quincy Norton and he transferred it to the kitchen area.

Giannini asked Quincy Norton whether he had a drinking problem, because both Tamika Norton and Johnson had arguments with him regarding his drinking. However, Quincy Norton said that while he does drink, he does not have a problem.

Quincy Norton was arrested in 2003 for driving under the influence and resisting arrest.

The Nortons' son Dion testified earlier in the trial that he heard his mom and dad arguing the morning his mother died, and that his mother screamed his and his brother's names.
Dion said that morning his dad collected him, his brother and sister, then ages 7, 9 and 1, put them in his mom's green Honda and drove them to a cousin's house in San Mateo where he left them.
However, Quincy Norton said the fight Dion remembers was Friday morning, not Saturday morning, which is when he found his wife's body. He did corroborate Dion's story of taking the three children to his cousin's house in Tamika Norton's car.

He said that he took her car because his vehicle had gotten a flat tire just as he arrived at the house that morning.

Quincy Norton told the courtroom that he did not call 911 after finding his wife's body because he has had altercations with police in the past and that he has been beaten up and Tasered by law enforcement. He said that when he saw her body, his first instinct was that his family was in danger and he wanted to get his children to a safe place.

When Giannini asked Quincy Norton why he did not take the children to Tamika Norton's mother's home, located only two miles from his house, he said that he didn't think of it at the time.

A Daly City police detective who later interviewed the cousin testified during a preliminary hearing that she told him she noticed Norton was behaving unusually when he showed up at her home, was wearing gloves on what was a warm day, and appeared jittery before he left his children with her.

Quincy Norton evaded police over a month while being sought for questioning following the fatal stabbing. Police arrested him in San Jose on Aug. 27, 2006, when the woman whose home he was staying at told him to leave. Police arrested him as he sat at a bus stop. He remains in custody on a no-bail status.