County sued over murder-suicide

Bill Gang

Friday, Dec. 10, 1999 | 10:25 a.m.

Nearly two years after the mother and stepfather of two girls died in a murder-suicide, the children and their grandmother have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Clark County, Metro Police and a deputy sheriff.

The deadly incident two days before Christmas 1998 occurred after Deputy Sheriff Tony Williams served Ronnie Norman, 34, with a temporary protective order requiring him to stay away from his wife, Judy Norman, also 34.

The lawsuit states that Williams, by order of the court, was supposed to evict the man from the home on I Street near Washington Avenue, but he didn't.

When his wife arrived home, Norman shot her to death and then killed himself. The bodies were found by the couple's then-11-year-old daughter. She and her then-7-year-old sister were inside the house when the shooting occurred, but did not witness the incident, police said.

In February 1998, Williams was fired for neglect of duty for failing to evict Ronnie Norman.

The lawsuit, filed through attorney Cal Potter, contends there was "an atmosphere of lawlessness" within the civil division of the sheriff's office that let deputies "illegally and intentionally deprive victims of protection ... in the belief the acts will be condoned and justified by superiors."

The civil division serves court papers and supervises evictions. Judy Norman, 34, a county corrections officer, had obtained the temporary protective order against her husband of four years on Dec. 12, 1998. It was formally served to him at their house 11 days later.

Metro Homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen said after the incident that detectives found the notice inside the house near the bodies.

Judy Norman's mother, Janice Carter, told police when she got to the house that her daughter had predicted the night before that her husband was going to kill her.

Carter is the guardian for the two girls, now 9 and 13.