‘Nothing That Happened That Day Had Anything to Do with Me,’ Says Homicide Defendant

By Andrew Michaels - March 24, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Suspects | Victims |

“Where I’m from, if you snitch, you get killed for it,” a homicide defendant told a jury on March 24.

Norman Lawson, 25, is undergoing trial in connection to the fatal stabbing of 26-year-old Roderick Odom nearly two years ago. Lawson’s testimony detailed the events that unfolded leading to Odom’s death, beginning with what was supposed to be a drug deal.

Defense attorney Natalie McKeown Finegar called Lawson to the stand Thursday afternoon on the second day of witness testimony. Lawson is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of use of a deadly weapon with the intent to injure in connection to Odom’s death on April 12, 2020.

Wearing a pink dress shirt, black slacks, and white shoes, Lawson sat before the jury and recalled walking down Garrison Boulevard after seeing a woman when Isaiah Eaddy, the second alleged suspect facing the same charges in Odom’s murder, beeped his car horn, and pulled up alongside Lawson in a 2006 Ford Escape.

Lawson, who later said he used to sell drugs under Eaddy, said he told Eaddy he was going to get a “xanny bar,” also known as Xanax, at the Crown gas station on Liberty Heights Avenue—an area where drugs were frequently sold. The defendant said he did not know the other two people in the car, but Eaddy said his cousin was sitting behind the driver’s seat and someone named Chuck was in the front passenger seat.

Eaddy told Lawson he had the Xanax and to get in the car to go to the gas station.

When they pulled into the parking lot, Lawson went inside and bought a Mountain Dew and coffee cake, while Eaddy and Chuck got out of the car and were talking to another individual, later identified as Odom. All five men then got back into the car where Lawson—sandwiched between Odom and Eaddy’s cousin—said he and Odom both pulled out money to buy Xanax from Eaddy.

The next few minutes were not what Lawson expected, he said. Eaddy drove out of the parking lot and down a back alley where he popped a U-turn with the passenger’s side of the car facing a privacy fence.

Then, Chuck pulled out a silver handgun.

“He said, ‘You know what time it is,’” said Lawson, who said he put his hands up before being told to move away from Odom.

Chuck allegedly took Odom’s drug money, began searching the victim’s clothes, and found a knife. Lawson said Chuck repeatedly told Odom to stop moving and jabbed him with the knife, not drawing blood. When Odom kept moving, the defendant said, Chuck stabbed him more forcefully, causing “a fair amount of blood.”

Both Odom and Chuck then got out of the car and the latter stole more money hidden in the victim’s shoes. Lawson said Eaddy sped off when Chuck got back in the car, leaving Odom behind.

“I didn’t think his injuries were too serious,” Lawson told the jury, which the prosecution questioned, citing Lawson’s earlier testimony that there was a lot of blood.

When Finegar asked what happened next, Lawson said he told Eaddy to drop him off and shortly got out of the car about two blocks away from where he was picked up. He then went home.

“Nothing that happened that day had anything to do with me,” said the defendant, who has been in jail since 2020. “I’m just trying to get home to my family.”

The prosecution questioned why Lawson never informed police of the stabbing to which he responded, “when you got a gun and a knife in your face, there’s not much you can do.”

Testimony concluded Thursday afternoon, with closing arguments scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. on March 25.