A Tucson man will spend 180 days in jail and seven years on probation for his part in an Election Day killing three years ago that has been linked to politics.
John Hodson, 56, was convicted of manslaughter following the November 2020 incident in which Robert Norwood, 63, died after being held in a choke hold during a fight while he painted a political statement on the wall surrounding of his home on Tucson’s southeast side.
Norwood’s killing has been called both a political and vigilante killing.
Pima Superior Court Judge John Goodwin said on Thursday that he disagreed with those assumptions.
Goodwin said the killing was neither intentional nor politically motivated. He said Hodson has shown remorse for what happened during the brawl that led to Norwood’s death.
Norwood was known in his neighborhood for posting carefully stenciled messages, such as tributes to fallen members of the military, on a stretch of his block wall facing East Golf Links Road. The messages written on this occasion were “anti-Trump”.
Police said Norwood was outside spray-painting his wall about 5:20 p.m. when Hodson pulled his vehicle over and, not knowing it was Norwood’s own property, accused him of vandalism. This touched off an argument that turned into a physical fight, with both men wrestling on the ground.
Family members said Norwood was wearing a respirator and a back brace during the scuffle, which ended with him in a choke hold.
Bystanders were able to separate the men, but Norwood was unresponsive by the time police and medics arrived.
Judge Goodwin said that during a four-minute 911 call made by Hodson you can hear Norwood expressing that he couldn’t breathe.
Shortly afterward, Norwood went silent.
“You did let go (of Norwood), but you didn’t let go soon enough,” Judge Goodwin said at Thursday’s sentencing.
Hodson, who spoke briefly during his sentencing, said he was, “very fearful of (his) life” during the incident. He said Norwood had allegedly stated he was going to retrieve a weapon from his vehicle.
Photos showed two weapons inside Norwood’s van.
Hodson said the death of Norwood that evening was not intentional, or political, stating the he’s a Libertarian.
Hodson’s attorney, Bobbi Berry, described Norwood as the aggressor in the incident and that he was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the fight. Berry noted that this could have contributed to the events that day.
Hodson, himself, sustained injuries in the fight. He was a “tattered mess” following the brawl, with deep bruises on his body, his attorney said.
Bonnie Sykes, Norwood’s older sister, wrote to the court expressing the impact her brother’s death has had on the family. She wrote that the horror of seeing her brother’s corpse “will always be etched in (her) memory.”
As Hodson listened to Sykes pain-filled letter being read, he looked straight ahead toward the judge. With his final words before being sentenced, he expressed his remorse.
“I understand that they are in pain and suffered a great loss” he said. “I am the cause of that. I understand their anger.”
Hodson was taken into custody immediately following his sentencing hearing.
