NORGREN.JPG

Linus Norgren

(WCSO)

When the verdict was read, Linus Norgren let out a deep, guttural sob.

A Washington County jury decided Friday he was guilty of attempted murder and second-degree assault for his Oct. 10, 2013, attack on a hunter, Jeff McDonald, on a remote hilltop.

The men were strangers, though they lived near each other in Manning. Norgren, who has bipolar disorder, had stopped treatment before the attack.

The 22-year-old defendant, who testified in his own defense, said he acted in self-defense.

The incident began when McDonald spotted Norgren naked and holding McDonald's saw near McDonald's ATV in the woods. Norgren left the saw and wrestled the hunter's rifle from him, then dropped it.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Megan Johnson said Norgren made his intention clear when he told McDonald: "Sasquatch kills the hunter."

Prosecutors said Norgren, a rock clenched in his fist, bashed the hunter in the head, sending him to the ground and knocking him unconscious.

"When Mr. McDonald was unconscious, Linus Norgren, with unspeakable violence, caused two fractured and dislocated arms," the prosecutor said. "He systematically and violently ripped Mr. McDonald's arms out of his torso."

Then, she said, the naked man climbed on top of McDonald, wrapped his hands around the hunter's throat and squeezed. But McDonald regained consciousness during the attack. Norgren shoved his fingers down the hunter's throat and gouged his eyes, she said.

And all the while, she said, Norgren was hissing and making a noise "that made your stomach drop when Mr. McDonald imitated it." Finally, Norgren passed out from apparent exhaustion.

"And thank goodness it happened," she said. Because Norgren "was trying to kill him with his bare hands, as a Sasquatch would do."

The victim managed to call 911 and reported that he was holding his naked attacker at gunpoint. Washington County sheriff's deputies and Oregon State Police found the men after about 90 minutes of navigating the thick forest and steep terrain south of U.S. 26 in Manning.

As the prosecutor described the incident on the hilltop, Norgren appeared tearful at the defense table.

He cried as his attorney, Bear Wilner-Nugent, began his closing argument.

Norgren's mental illness worsened in the weeks before the incident, Wilner-Nugent said. He went days without sleep.

The defense attorney said early in the morning of Oct. 10, Norgren went into his younger brother's bedroom and chattered about nonsense. He punched his hand through the glass of his brother's window, and then left the house.

So, Norgren was naked and bleeding from the hand and "goofing around" when he encountered the hunter, the lawyer said.

"He perceives a threat, and he acts on it," Wilner-Nugent said.

Norgren acted the way he did because of his untreated bipolar disorder, he said, and the state couldn't disprove that he acted in self-defense.

Testifying in his own defense Friday, Norgren told jurors he attacked McDonald because he was intimidated by the hunter's gun, his size, his boots and his layers of clothing -- as compared with Norgren's nudity.

On cross-examination, the prosecutor asked Norgren if, after the attack, he'd said that the victim "felt like a baby in my arms."

"Yes," Norgren said. "I meant that, um, he felt really light. He looked really large at first. Like, I was totally terrified that if I'd try to do what I did that it wouldn't happen as I planned, that he would be much stronger than he even appeared, and he would just, you know, overwhelm me with imposition, his body."

Norgren sighed. "But it was surprising to me how quickly and easily I could maneuver him."

The prosecutor asked why Norgren stopped his attack.

"Because, I mean, empathy. I'm a very empathic person," Norgren said. "He was hurting. He had wounds."

Before law enforcement arrived, Norgren said, the hunter counter-attacked and repeatedly slammed his head into a rock. After that, Norgren said that he stayed curled up in the fetal position.

When closing arguments finished Friday afternoon and jurors left Judge Thomas Kohl's courtroom, the defendant, who was out of custody, began to cry. He hugged a young woman tightly, both of them weeping.

The jury returned its verdict after 6 p.m., after about three hours of deliberations. The judge read the decision close to 6:30 p.m.

Norgren, who wore a navy blue suit earlier in the day, had shed his jacket. He sat at the defense table wearing a pained look.

As the verdict was read, his sobs filled the room. He turned toward his family, clutching his hands to his chest.

"Sorry," he said. "Mom, I love you so much."

Six deputies working court security stood around the room. At 6:38 p.m. they asked his family to leave.

"I love you all so much," he yelled as his mother and four others walked out.

The judge ordered Norgren into custody before his sentencing on Tuesday. One deputy began handcuffing him.

"Oh, this is hell on earth," Norgren said.

-- Emily E. Smith

esmith@oregonian.com

503-294-4032; @emilyesmith