PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday will hear the appeal of a woman serving a 37-year murder sentence for smothering her toddler in June 2013.
It is one of 19 appeals the court is scheduled to consider this week at the Cumberland County Courthouse.
Leanna Norris, 26, of Auburn, formerly of Stetson, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. She admitted killing Loh Melody Grenda and trying to kill herself after the 2½-year-old’s father with whom Norris had been living broke up with her.
Superior Court Justice Ann Murray rejected that defense in December 2014 after Norris’ jury-waived trial the previous October and November at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor. The judge concluded that “Ms. Norris knew right from wrong and had the ability to apply her knowledge of right from wrong to the action she took when killing Loh.”
Murray also concluded that “while Ms. Norris’ judgment was impaired, all of the facts set forth above reflect the behavior and actions of someone who has a perception and understanding of reality that is not grossly or demonstrably impaired.”
Bangor attorney Hunter Tzovarras, who is handling Norris’ appeal, argued in his brief that Murray erred when she rejected the conclusions of Dr. Charles Robinson, the forensic psychologist who testified for the defense. He diagnosed her with major depressive disorder and found that her depression “detached her from the reality of choices in the world and led her to believe the only choice that existed was ‘an altruistic suicide.’
“Dr. Robinson found Leanna recognized it was wrong to take the life of your daughter, except in the circumstance that she was confronted with,” Tzovarras said. “As a result of her mental illness, Leanna did not know that taking the life of her daughter was wrong under the circumstances and mental health condition she found herself in on June 23, 2013. Leanna believed taking her daughter’s life was the right thing to do.”
Assistant Attorney General Donald Macomber argued in his brief for the prosecution that Murray’s verdict was correct. He said in Maine, Supreme Court justices are obligated by law to resolve any conflicts in the evidence in favor of the state.
Macomber also said that Murray’s decision to give more weight to the testimony of Dr. Ann LeBlanc, director of the state forensic service, than to Robinson’s statements at trial was correct.
“While Norris’s ability to make good decisions may have been compromised, according to Dr. LeBlanc, she nonetheless retained the ability to make decisions,” he wrote.
The earliest date Norris could be released from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham is July 6, 2045, according to the Department of Corrections inmate locator website.
Other cases the justices will consider include an appeal by Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting over the use of resources by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife to defeat a 2014 referendum addressing bear baiting practices, and an Allagash man’s claim that there was insufficient evidence to convict him last year of being intoxicated while hunting and on other charges.
There is no timetable under which the justices must issue their decisions.