After his case was stalled for more than four years in a dispute over evidence, a former church youth minister charged in a child pornography sting is now scheduled to go to trial on March 21 in Clark County Superior Court.
Judge John Wulle set the trial date Wednesday after receiving the case back from the Court of Appeals, which was reviewing the evidence dispute.
Michael S. Norris, also a former Bible camp counselor, has been in the Clark County Jail since August 2006, awaiting trial on 13 child rape and molestation charges.
His case dragged on because prosecutors, citing a federal law precluding them from dispersing child pornographic tapes allegedly showing Norris abusing two young children, did not provide the tapes to defense attorney Clay Spencer, so he could not prepare a defense and move forward to trial.
At issue was whether the attorneys should follow the federal law restricting dissemination of child pornography or the state’s law of discovery. The dispute caused the case to be continually delayed.
To get the case back on track, Norris, 44, of Vancouver, filed a pre-trial appeal to the Court of Appeals, which ruled last summer that prosecutors are required by state law to hand over the tapes.
“In Washington, full disclosure of the state’s evidence has long been the rule,” the appellate court wrote.
Deputy Prosecutor Alan Harvey appealed that decision to the Washington Supreme Court, but the higher court denied review.
In preparation for trial, Wulle set a review hearing March 7 to address the evidence issues.
Norris’ home was raided by federal agents in August 2006 as part of a nationwide Internet child pornography sting. Agents seized his computer hard drive and video tapes and reportedly found thousands of images of child pornography.
County prosecutors were seeking a life sentence for Norris, who is charged in connection to alleged sex acts that occurred over three years involving a 10-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother, whom Norris met at church.
The names of Norris’ church and the camp have not been released.
Another dilemma when the case goes to trial is subjecting the courtroom to a 25-minute-long video of the defendant allegedly sexually abusing the siblings. Wulle said on Wednesday that he didn’t want his courtroom to be in violation of the federal crime of watching child pornography. But, he said, he would make an exception for the jurors.
“If we use that stuff, it will be facing this way, toward the jury box,” he told attorneys.
