Elton Walters, 67, Convicted of Interracial Murder of Evelyn Norell, 93; Broward County Taxpayers Paid for 5 Public Defenders, Who Fought Back Tears at Their Failure to Thwart Justice; Killer Could Face Death Penalty

 

[Previously, on this atrocity, at WEJB/NSU:

“Jurors Hear Closing Arguments in Pembroke Pines Condo Rape-Murder of White Woman, 93; Black Defendant’s Defense Team Uses ‘O.J. Defense.’”]
 

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

Thanks for this article to my partner in crime, David in TN, who wrote,

This was another murder of an elderly woman, 93 years old. The killer had no criminal record. Ever notice these types of killers look like respectable citizens?

Yeah, so did charming, racist, black serial killer, John Floyd Thomas Jr., aka the Westside Rapist. (Why a serial killer would merely be called a “rapist” is a question I can’t answer.)

Something tells me that, had the killer been white, the defense team would not have been fighting back tears after hearing the jury’s verdict. And why was Walters given five public defenders?
 

Elton Walters guilty in murder of Pembroke Pines woman
Evelyn Norell, 93, was killed in her bedroom
Comments 3

There was no mystery killer behind the brutal slaying of a 93-year-old Pembroke Pines condo resident, a Broward jury decided Thursday.
By Rafael Olmeda
5:53 p.m. EST, November 7, 2013
Sun Sentinel

There was no mystery killer behind the brutal slaying of a 93-year-old Pembroke Pines condo resident, a Broward jury decided Thursday.

No unknown assailant strangled Evelyn Norell and then slit her throat with a gash so deep it reached her spine. No mix-up at the crime lab put her DNA in the boxers of the maintenance man who was in her apartment the day she died, as the defense implied.

The maintenance man, Elton Walters, was convicted of Norell's murder on Thursday. The jury took nine hours over two days to reject almost all defense arguments.

Walters, 67, was also convicted of armed robbery and armed burglary in the Oct. 6, 2009 attack that left Norell dead in her condo at the Images community. He faces the death penalty.

The only concession the jury made to the defense was on the charge of armed sexual battery. Because prosecutors never established that Walters penetrated the victim, the jury convicted him of the lesser charge of attempted sexual battery.

Walters and his team of five lawyers from the Broward Public Defender's Office were visibly upset after the verdict was read and the jury left the courtroom. Red-eyed and handcuffed, he managed to shake hands with each of his lawyers, some of whom held back their own tears.

The victim's daughter, grandson and granddaughter declined to comment after the verdict was read. They will have the opportunity to share their thoughts with the jury and Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Levenson on March 10, when Walters is scheduled to return to court.

That's when the jury will determine whether Walters deserves to be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison.

"We're pleased with the verdict and we think it speaks justice," said Assistant State Attorney Stephen Zaccor, who prosecuted the case.

Testimony began Oct. 28 and ended Tuesday. On Wednesday, jurors listened to closing arguments.

Walters was a porter, bartender and bar supervisor for Amtrak for 30 years. He had no criminal record. During a police interrogation after the murder, he told a detective that he and his family were not hurting for money. His income as a maintenance worker at Images was supplemented by his pension, he said.

Norell, a retired nurse, a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, lived alone at Images for more than a decade. Neighbors said she loved to brag about her grandchildren.

It was her adult granddaughter, Jennifer Cunningham, who discovered Norell's body. The victim was on her bed, naked from just below her breast area down to her socks. A pool of blood formed under her head.

Investigators focused on Walters soon after the body was found. Another condo resident told police he had seen Walters leaving the area outside Norell's building. He said Walters got into his Dodge pickup, backed out of a parking spot, jumped a curb and struck a stop sign, then left without checking the damage.

Later that night, police searched that pickup and found a bag containing a tablecloth and a bloody sheet from Norell's condo unit, a lockbox and purse belonging to the victim, and a bloody knife.

Walters told police he had no idea how those items got into his vehicle. He told Pembroke Pines Police Detective Carl Heim that he had met Norell months earlier and helped her move a few things. But as the interrogation went on, he admitted he was in her home the day of the murder. He had obtained an extra key for her lockbox, he said, and went to her home to drop it off.

The interrogation was recorded on video and played for jurors this week.

Prosecutors and witnesses said Walters' DNA was found under Norell's fingernails, and her DNA was found on his boxers, his shorts, the knife found in Walters' pickup and on Walters' hands.

Defense lawyers led by Assistant Public Defender Betsy Benson argued that Walters was the victim of a rush to judgment by detectives. But the jury rejected that argument.

Walters' son, Barry Walters, declined to comment outside court Thursday.

raolmeda@tribune.com, 954-356-4457 or Twitter @SSCourts.