A Greer, South Carolina, man who participated in the violent January 6th attack on the Capitol building has found his bond revoked and he has been sent back to jail by a federal judge after he was found in violation of a direct court-ordered and accused of attempted witness tampering against none other than his own wife, who he allegedly harrassed with at least 5,000 “abusive” text messages, according to a recent report from Post and Courier.
Prosecutors claim that William Robert Norwood III, of Greer, South Carolina, sent literal thousands upon thousands of text messages to his now-estranged wife, who is currently a potential government witness, in spite of the clear no-contact order the judge had lodged against him with regard to his wife.
Due to the text message harassment, Magistrate Judge Kevin McDonald ordered that Norwood be held pending trial following his bond hearing at the Greenville Federal Courthouse on March 14. After that, the Capitol insurrectionist will be transferred to a jail in the District of Columbia.
Judge McDonald ultimately determined that the January 6th defendant violated a previous judge’s no-contact order thousands of times, over and over again, through angry and abusive text messages he sent to his estranged wife that he was “expressly told not to contact in his bond order.”
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In McDonald’s detention order, he noted that Norwood “attempted to obstruct justice with these communications” when he contacted the woman thousands of times.
The report claims that Norwood’s now-estranged wife was present with him outside the United States Capitol building on January 6th, 2020. The couple had apparently separated by the time William was arrested for his crimes in late February of 2021. At that point, a judge ordered that Norwood was to have zero contact with his wife.
Nevertheless, Norwood would go on to send a staggering 5,000-plus text messages to his estranged wife in addition to numerous phone calls following his release from jail on bond, per Justice Department attorneys.
Some of those text messages saw William asking his estranged wife to invoke “spousal privilege” to avoid testifying against him in court.
DOJ lawyers wrote that “Norwood’s messages to his estranged wife are harassing, abusive, petulant, and occasionally threatening.”
The bulk of the text messages sent by Norwood were sealed when filed in the courts, however, Judge McDonald noted his concerns that many of those communications confirmed that “Mr. Norwood presents a danger” to his estranged wife.
The rioter’s court-appointed attorney, Lora Blanchard, said during the hearing that her client does not deny that he contact his estranged wife and is well aware of the fact that the communications were a direct violation of the no-contact order lodged against him by the courts. She went on to try to excuse Norwood’s behavior by claiming that the couple was going through a tumultuous divorce process and many of William’s messages were sent in a state of frustration.
In his testimony, Norwood claimed that he has tried to acquire a divorce attorney but has been unable to receive the help he desires or needs so “we were trying to handle it with each other.” However, the text messages he illegally sent to his wife tell a much different story, as sample messages show the defendant threatening his estranged wife with the possibility of giving authorities potential criminal information about her, using highly abusive language towards her, and attempting to manipulate her out of testifying against him in court.
The Post and Courier reports:
Norwood faces seven federal charges. He was arrested by FBI agents after a family member shared screenshots of messages in which he bragged about assaulting police officers and storming the Capitol. Agents found a Capitol Police riot shield and helmet in Norwood’s storage unit, which he said he picked up from a pile outside the Capitol.
The government also said Norwood led a group into the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and filmed rioters storming the Capitol from her office balcony.”
Norwood’s estranged wife allegedly attempted on numerous occasions to put a stop to William’s communications and even went so far as to ask his mother, who serves as his government authorized supervisor, to make her son stop harassing her.
“Please have your son stop,” Norwood’s estranged wife reportedly wrote to his mother on Oct. 1, 2021. “This is 3 weeks in a row I’ve been asking him to stop. I’m going to have to say something to the judge. He won’t stop.”
As it stands, a trial date has not yet been set for Norwood, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Max Cauthen says a date could be set for this summer. A case status hearing has been set for the defendant on March 15 in the District of Columbia.
Read the full report from Post and Courier here.
Featured image via screen capture
