At a murder trial, two families share hugs and prayers

LARGO — Threats, evil stares, whispered taunts — these are common in the long hallways of the Pinellas Criminal Courts Complex, especially in the tense hours when families are waiting for a verdict in a murder case.

Not this time.

Before the jury on Friday night declared Bruce Lee Watts guilty of murdering Amy Alice Norris, the family of the shooter approached the family of the woman he shot, with help from a Pinellas deputy. They offered condolences.

"I know the pain; I'm a mother myself," Watts' mother, Barbara, said.

Norris' mother Sandra readily accepted the gesture. Perhaps comparing her loss to the loss Watts will feel with a son in prison, she told her, "it's a very hard road, I'll tell you."

And then half a dozen people from the two families hugged each other and promised to pray for each other. Soon after, they went inside the courtroom for the verdict.

Judge Chris Helinger sentenced Watts to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the only sentence for first-degree murder other than death.

Watts shot Norris, who was 24, after a brief argument in which Watts' brother Benjamin also was present. Benjamin Watts was the father of a child that Norris was pregnant with when she was killed.

Zachary White, one of Watts' attorneys, said he acknowledged during opening arguments that Watts shot her; and told the court Watts wanted to apologize for what he had done.

After the verdict, Norris' mother Sandra said "I feel that we got justice."