Jurors take just 30 minutes to find Calmer guilty of killing Monroe deputy

At 5:45 p.m. Sept. 13, 2014, Monroe County deputy Michael Norris sent a message to his wife, Logan.

“I love you,” the message read.

Logan Norris Doyle testified Tuesday that it wasn’t uncommon for her husband to send her a message saying he loved her when he had a bad feeling about going to an emergency.

He wanted those words to be the last she heard if something happened.

Doyle said she had a feeling as she read the message and called Norris. He answered, said he couldn’t talk and that he’d call later.

It wasn’t 10 minutes later that she got a message to call a sheriff’s office dispatcher and learned Norris, her husband of less than five months, had been shot.

She said she doesn’t remember much of what happened at the hospital that night.

The next day she was not longer his wife.

“I was his widow,” Doyle said.

Doyle was one of several victim impact witnesses who testified as the sentencing phase began in the trial for Christopher Keith Calmer. Jurors deliberated about a half-hour Tuesday before finding Calmer guilty of murder in Norris’ death and also of wounding deputy Jeff Wilson.

The jury will also decide whether to sentence Calmer to life, life without the possibility of parole or death.

A co-worker, the then-principal at K.B. Sutton Elementary School where Norris worked for a while as a school resource officer and Norris’ best friend testified about the impact of the killing on their lives and the community.

Monroe County Sheriff John Cary Bittick testified he was 15 minutes into a flight to Texas when Norris and Wilson were shot.

When he landed, Bittick turned on his cell phone and saw he had numerous messages.

“I immediately knew whatever the news was, it was extremely serious,” the sheriff said.

Bittick said he knew Norris as a child, when Norris was a boyscout, then as he became a volunteer firefighter, a jailer and finally a deputy.

“He was respectful and well respected,” the sheriff said.

Norris was dedicated to becoming the best deputy he could be and genuinely wanted to help everyone he encountered, Bittick said.

Norris’ death impacted the entire law enforcement community, taking away lawmen’s sense of security and reminding them of their mortality, the sheriff said.

“Michael Norris was one of the best men I ever knew,” he said.

Wilson also testified about the impact of his being shot.

A deputy of seven years, Wilson said he’s now anxious and apprehensive when he interacts with people.

He’s lost his enthusiasm to help people and sees people as a threat.

Suffering permanent health effects from the shooting, Wilson said he survived, but his life has been cut short.

Samantha Peterson, one of Calmer’s two ex-wives, also testified, pleading for jurors to spare his life.

She described Calmer as a man who brought her flowers when they were dating and someone who she enjoyed laughing with.

“This was not Chris. ... The Chris I knew wouldn’t get a speeding ticket. He wouldn’t break the law,” Peterson said.

“Don’t kill Chris for one day,” she said.

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Jurors take just 30 minutes to find Calmer guilty of killing Monroe deputy."