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Judge Craig Parsons on Wednesday granted a new trial for Quincy Dean Norton Sr. after finding that his attorney during his first trial, Patricia Fox, had provided inadequate representation, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
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Norton was found guilty May 15, 2008, of first-degree murder after six days of jury deliberations.
The date of Norton's new jury trial date is scheduled to be set June 11. He has been appointed two attorneys from the private defender program, Mitri Hanania and Rene Berenson.
Norton, who faces 26 years to life in prison if convicted, was charged with killing his wife, 31-year-old Tamika Norton, on July 22, 2006.
Tamika Norton had decided she wanted a divorce and had filled out paperwork on July 12, 2006, the owner of a San Mateo divorce center testified during Norton's first trial. The divorce center mailed her the papers so she could serve them to Quincy Norton on July 16, a week before she was killed.
During the trial, the couple's children, Quincy Norton Jr., 11, and Dion, 9, testified they heard their mother scream the morning she died, and heard banging coming from the master bedroom.
Norton testified the boys heard the fight on the morning before Tamika Norton was killed. Norton told the court he was at the home of another woman, Anitra Johnson, the night of July 21, and said Johnson took his keys at some point and left her Milpitas home for a few hours. He said he came home early that morning to find his wife's body on the bedroom floor.
Norton evaded police for more than a month while being sought for questioning following the murder. Police arrested him in San Jose on Aug. 27, 2006, when the woman whose home he was staying at told him to leave. Police arrested him as he sat at a bus stop.
Norton remains in custody without bail.
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