The child sex abuse and pornography case of a former youth minister that stalled for four years took a major step toward resolution Wednesday.
In paperwork filed in Clark County Superior Court, Michael S. Norris admitted to sexually abusing two young children between 2003 and 2006. The confession came as part of a written agreement with prosecutors that he will waive trial locally and agree to be sentenced in federal court to 35 years in prison.
The agreement means that Norris will first plead guilty in federal court and then come back to Clark County to plead guilty; his local sentence would be counted concurrently with his federal sentence, said Senior Deputy Prosecutor Alan Harvey.
After a morning hearing, Norris, 44, of Vancouver, was set to be transported to the federal detention center in SeaTac to await a hearing in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, where it’s anticipated that he will plead guilty and be sentenced on a yet-to-be-determined date.
He was indicted in January in federal court on 17 counts of child pornography-related charges.
Norris’ agreement on Wednesday locks him in to a conviction, Harvey said.
In the agreement, Norris stipulated to a list of facts that he raped and molested a 10-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother, whom he met at church. He also admitted to filming the acts.
In his written confession, he agrees to a sentence of 35 years to life in prison; after 35 years, his case would go before a sentencing review board, which would decide when he’s fit to be released.
Norris’ agreement also drops allegations that prosecutors mishandled the case by withholding copies of the child pornography tapes from his defense attorney.
Norris has been waiting to go to trial on his local case since August 2006. But the case has been stalled over an evidence dispute: Prosecutors, citing a federal law precluding them from dispersing child pornographic tapes, did not give the tapes to defense attorney Clay Spencer, who said he needed them to prepare a defense and move forward to trial.
The dispute caused the case to be repeatedly delayed.
The Washington Court of Appeals ruled last summer that state law requires prosecutors to hand over the tapes.
The home of Norris, a former youth minister and Bible camp counselor, was raided by federal agents in August 2006 as part of a nationwide Internet child pornography sting. Agents seized his computer hard drive and videotapes and reportedly found thousands of images of child pornography.
Laura McVicker: 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.
