Charges dropped against man charged with manslaughter

July 28, 2010

John Norris

The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney dropped charges of manslaughter against John Norris, the San Miguel man accused of shooting his wife in July 2009. [KSBY]

Officials charged Norris with involuntary manslaughter in Tasha Norris’ death last July.

Last month, nine jurors voted not guilty and three voted guilty resulting in a mistrial. The District Attorney’s Office decided nor to retry the case.

Norris said he was holding a Taurus 911 pistol when he tripped over a dog. He claimed he clenched his fist to brace himself from the fall, squeezed the trigger and shot his wife who was sitting on the couch.

The couple has two small children, a 4-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son.

Tasha worked as a communications operator at Camp Roberts.  At the time of the shooting, John Norris was an active duty soldier in the United States Army, reporting to Camp Commander Todd Hourihan at Camp Roberts.