Was fatal shooting outside Pierce County home self-defense? Here’s what a jury decided
A 33-year-old man who killed a person who came to his Midland home with three others to take back property tied to drug deals acted out of self-defense, a jury has decided.
Lawrence Connor Norton was acquitted of two counts of second-degree murder last month in Pierce County Superior Court. Those offenses were tried by a jury, and according to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, a bench trial decided two charges of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Judge Angelica Williams found him not guilty.
Norton fatally shot Ryan Douglas Irey, 34, on the night of Aug. 17, 2021, outside his gated property in the 7400 block of 20th Avenue East, according to court documents. Norton called 911 and told dispatchers he’d shot someone who was trying to break into his home. In interviews with detectives, Norton said he used to sell opiates to Irey, and he agreed to store some of the man’s belongings — including an ATV, a generator and a leaf blower — on his property before they had a falling out.
Prosecutors alleged that Norton had been selling methamphetamine and heroin out of his home, and according to a trial brief, Irey believed Norton was ripping him off in drug sales. The two had limited contact after Irey stopped buying from Norton, prosecutors said, and Irey would occasionally ask for his property back, but Norton refused.
Norton’s home was outfitted with multiple surveillance cameras, and on the night of the shooting, records state, video shows Irey and three friends arrive at about 11:30 p.m. and park on 20th Avenue East in two trucks, just as Norton and his girlfriend were leaving to buy groceries.
The video reportedly showed Norton getting out of his truck while Irey approached. Norton pushed the other man back, and the two exchanged words from about 10 feet apart. According to prosecutors, Norton later said three men swarmed his car and he drove off, momentarily leaving his girlfriend behind until he drove back a minute later and fired off gunshots to get people to disperse.
Norton said he got out of his vehicle, hit Irey and told him to leave. Video reportedly shows him running at Irey and striking him in the face several times. He then pulled a 9 mm pistol and shot Irey. After he fell, two of the people who were with him ran off on 20th Avenue East.
Prosecutors said Norton then pointed his firearm at the third person who came with Irey. That man reportedly heard a bullet whiz by him while he drove off. Norton then fired several more times at Irey, ultimately striking him in the face, the neck and three times in the torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Was encounter about property or ‘revenge’?
The deadly encounter at Norton’s home was about Irey trying to get back his property, according to prosecutors, but the defense argued it was more about “an opportunity to exact revenge.” Attorney Tim Leary wrote in court filings that Irey had a score he wanted to settle.
The confrontation never went beyond the gate of Norton’s home, according to court records, but the defense claimed Irey and the others were prepared to confront the defendant and break into his residence.
“Jason Hindman, one of Ryan Irey’s accomplices, described him to the detectives shortly after the incident: ‘Ryan kinda had a death wish. He wasn’t happy in life and he ran up on [Norton] and was like, then kill me, do me a favor,” according to the defense’s trial memorandum.
The defense said there were long-running threats directed at Norton from Irey dating back to a text message Norton received in October 2020. In interviews with detectives, Norton said Irey threatened his life. In the long message, Irey tells Norton he doesn’t want to live and that Norton has more to lose than him.
“If you really want to continue to not give me my [expletive] then I will have no choice but to proceed how I see fit and I hope you think I’m bluffin cause i can’t wait to see the look on your face when you realize you [expletive] up by underestimating me,” Irey wrote in part.
Irey didn’t directly threaten Norton’s life in the message, and prosecutors claimed that Norton said the text played no role in his decision to shoot Irey. The defendant’s attorney disagreed. According to Leary, his client told detectives he tried to defuse the situation, and his decision to shoot Irey was the culmination of many factors.
“He discussed how the prior threats impacted him, how he attempted de-escalation measures, but it was Mr. Irey’s decision to pull the gun that ultimately led him to act in self-defense,” Leary wrote in the trial memo.
Norton told detectives Irey was known to have a pistol, according to prosecutors. Norton said he saw Irey reach for a firearm and that he believed he saw the man pull an item the size and shape of a gun and point it at him, but investigators did not find a weapon by his body. Prosecutors wrote in court filings that surveillance video showed someone from Irey’s car stopping by his body after the shooting and leaning over it, but it doesn’t show whether a firearm or anything else was taken.
