Inmate: No Plot To Kill For Insurance -- Washington Man Blames 33- Year Term On `Unstable' Woman

KENNEWICK - Dale Norwick alternates between cracking jokes and sobbing when he talks about his 33-year sentence for a crime he claims is a figment of a lonely woman's imagination.

Norwick, 43, was convicted of two charges of conspiracy to commit murder, accused of plotting with his lover to kill two men for insurance money. Benton County Superior Court jurors also convicted him April 6 of first-degree theft and second-degree possession of stolen property.

"They're going to lock me up for the rest of my life, and they don't even have a dead body," Norwick said at the Benton County Jail..

"I'm going to die in prison.

"Never in my life did I think I'd get in trouble for something I didn't do. And never for planning to hurt someone,' " Norwick said.

"That's just not me," he said, and began to cry.

When the case went to trial, Norwick - who is married and has four children - coached Little League baseball and a children's basketball team in nearby Pasco.

Norwick also was charged with first-degree murder, accused of killing his sister's husband, William Jewell, in 1982 by pushing him off a cliff. Norwick, one of Jewell's beneficiaries, collected $230,000 in insurance.

Jewell's death was declared accidental at the time, but officials reopened the case after Norwick was charged with conspiracy. Jurors deadlocked, and a mistrial was declared on that charge.

Ten years after Jewell's death, star prosecution witness Kathe

Lee testified, she and Norwick plotted a similar fate for two other men - Todd Roberts and Kenneth Harris.

Pair blame each other

She says the plot was Norwick's idea, that she went along because she had fallen in love with the horse trainer and former insurance salesman. Lee, 29, of Kennewick was granted immunity for cooperating with prosecutors.

Norwick describes Lee as an emotionally unstable woman who could not accept his rejection of her.

"That woman ruined my life," he said.

Norwick introduced Lee to Roberts in 1991. Within a couple of months, Roberts had moved into her house and they were buying a truck together.

Roberts, 24, now stationed in Colorado with the Air Force, testified that Lee kicked him out, without explanation, a week after he refused to buy life insurance.

In August 1992, Norwick introduced Lee to Harris. They married in April 1993.

Soon after that, they went to buy life insurance. An agent recommended a $150,000 policy for Harris, 29, who was working as a restaurant bus boy.

In October 1993, the couple bought a $1.5 million policy on Harris.

Late that year, an informant tipped the Washington State Patrol about a plot to kill Harris. After authorities canceled his life-insurance policy, Harris testified, he and Lee began having marital problems. They have since divorced.

Norwick says he and Lee were never lovers and that the conspiracy never happened.

"I never told that girl I loved her. I told her on several occasions that if she wasn't going to behave to stay away from me," Norwick said.

Befriended her out of `pity'

He said they remained friends because he pitied her.

Lee was obsessed with the idea of killing for insurance money, Norwick said.

"When Todd moved out, she came out to the track and said, `We should have insured him and killed him.' I said, `I don't appreciate you talking like that around me. It's not funny,' " Norwick said.

"Before I knew it, she's married to Ken and next hint I got . . . she said, `Well, I got me a husband, now all we need is some insurance.' She said it lightly, and I just laughed it off that time," he said.

Norwick's attorneys plan to challenge his conviction.

"I don't see this appeal having a chance in hell," Norwick said, but his wife persuaded him to go ahead with it.

"I told the kids a miracle could happen and Miss Harris could come forward and tell the truth," Linda Norwick said. "There's no dead bodies, no smoking gun. They have no evidence at all - just her story."

A first-degree murder conviction likely would have meant a shorter sentence - 26 years under state sentencing guidelines - than the two counts of murder conspiracy brought, Linda Norwick said.

"My God, nobody's even dead," she said.

Norwick faced a maximum penalty of 43 years.

He started writing a book about his case late last month, and hoped to find a publisher and earn money to help support his family. Under federal law, however, inmates may not profit from their crimes.

"Our life savings, every last penny of it, went into defending me," Norwick said.

His wife and children live in a cozy home in Pasco, with rose bushes and potted flowers in front. Inside, the house is decorated with built-in cabinets made by Norwick, mounted deer heads from his hunting trips, and photos of the couple and their children, ages 12 to 22.

Will he kill himself?

Norwick had been in jail for 14 months when he was sentenced to prison for 33 years and three months. He said he doesn't know whether he can survive his term.

"My kids have all been down here, and they know which window to look up at to see Daddy. They'll come down and play catch and wave at me," Norwick said, sobbing.

If his appeal fails, Linda Norwick said she doesn't expect him to serve out his sentence.

"He wants to finish his book. I don't look for him to stay living much after that," she said. "I don't think I'd serve . . . years for something I didn't do."

The no-suicide clause on his $2 million life insurance policy has expired, Linda Norwick said.