Alexis+Zeigler-Holleman+2A


 * __ The Interrogation of Michael Crowe __**

On the morning of January 21, 1998, the Crowe family of Escondido, California awoke to find twelve year old Stephanie Crowe dead in her bedroom. She had been stabbed nine times. The house showed no sign of a break in and no DNA was found on Stephanie’s body. The police were entirely perplexed. Then their eyes fell on Stephanie’s fourteen year old brother, Michael. The young boy seemed oddly calm and unfazed to the Escondido police. He, along with the rest of the family, was brought to the police station for questioning. Over the next three days, Michael Crowe was interrogated by police for over twenty seven hours. During that time, two of Michael’s friends, Josh Treadway and Aaron Hauser, were also brought in to be questioned about being accomplices in the murder of their friend’s younger sister. All three boys were relentlessly interrogated for hours on end. They were left alone for extended periods of time, kept from their parents, and forbidden to see each other. At first, each one stood by a story of innocence. By the time they were released from questioning, Michael Crowe and Josh Treadway had confessed to murdering Stephanie Crowe. Tape recorders and video cameras captured Michael Crowe’s confession to the murder of his sister. The police took that confession and ran with it. They claimed that sibling rivalry was enough of a motive for Michael to kill. Stephanie had always gotten better grades in school, and Michael made no secret of the fact that he resented that. The police stated that they had all of the evidence they needed with that confession. Michael Crowe had told the entire intricate story of how he had borrowed the murder weapon, a hunting knife, from Aaron Hauser’s collection. He had formulated a plan in which Josh and Aaron, his accomplices, would stand guard while Michael himself would murder Stephanie in her sleep. All it took to get Michael to confess was separation from his family and some information from the police. The Escondido officers in charge of the interrogation had told Michael that they had already attained confessions from both of his friends, that his hair had been found on Stephanie’s body, and that his parents believed he was guilty and hated him. All of these things were lies. Young minds are not hard to overwhelm and confuse. Michael Crowe’s interrogation was its own form of torture. As it began, Michael Crowe was entirely convinced and confident in his innocence. He had not killed his sister. He told the police that he had awoken in the middle of the night with a headache, so he had gone to the kitchen to retrieve a glass of milk and some Tylenol. He could remember no disturbance in the house. Michael maintained that he knew nothing of his sister’s murder, until the police began to feed him false information. The interrogation had continued for so long that Michael would have given anything to make it stop. Police officers told Michael that if he would just confess, he would be given psychiatric help, not prison time. They reassured him that his life would be so much easier and happier if he would just admit to the murder. The police told Michael over and over again that he really had committed the crime. They told him that his DNA had been found on Stephanie’s body; that Josh Treadway and Aaron Hauser had confessed to being his accomplices; that his family hated him for stealing away their baby girl, who they had always loved so much more than him. The police had a motive, they had a weapon, they had accomplices, and Michael had nothing. As the police watched and videotaped, Michael told a story in intense detail of his plot to murder his sister. But before he began his story, he told the officers “This is where I’ll start to lie.” Had Michael Crowe’s confession to the murder of his younger sister, Stephanie Crowe, not been caught on video, Michael’s actual innocence may not have been proven. The only real evidence that the police had was Michael’s confession. With the help of the recording of Michael’s verbal torture, his lawyers were able to prove that the confession was coerced and false. The police had lied to Michael about evidence to make him think that he had no hope, which is totally legal. However, promising leniency in questioning is illegal. The pressure and emotional stress that Michael had been put under was all more than enough to break any adult, much less a fourteen year old. The Crowe’s were convinced of the boy’s innocence, but the police weren’t quite convinced. The lawyers representing the Crowe, Treadway, and Hauser families pushed for further investigation. The morning after the murder, the police had picked up a mysterious liking homeless man in the Crowe’s neighborhood. The man was Richard Raymond Tuite; a felon and diagnosed schizophrenic who had been wandering from house to house on the day of Stephanie’s murder asking for a girl named Tracy. Tuite’s clothes had been confiscated and he was released from custody. The police returned some of their suspicions to Tuite, even though Michael was their prime suspect. Tuite’s clothes were reexamined and small traces of Stephanie’s blood were found on his red sweatshirt. Six weeks later, all charges against Michael, Josh, and Aaron were dropped for the reason that they were forced to give the police just what they wanted to hear. The boys had been incarcerated for six months. Tuite, who was serving prison time for burglary at the time, was not charged with Stephanie’s murder until five years after he was questioned by the police. In his questioning, he admitted to entering the Crowe house, but denied killing Stephanie. On the first day of Tuite’s trial, he tried to escape from the San Diego courthouse, but was caught only three hours later. This served as more proof of his guilt. After eight days of deliberation, the jury decided that Tuite was guilty of voluntary manslaughter. It was concluded that Tuite did kill Stephanie, but without malice or premeditation. Three months later, the judge sentenced Tuite to a maximum prison term of thirteen years, which he is still serving today. Michael Crowe is now married and hopes to finish college. Even though all charges have been dropped against him, he still has to cope with the horror that he experienced in his interrogation. Eventually, this case came to a fair and just ruling. However, the treatment of Michael Crowe during his interrogation was extremely unjust and inhumane. The police lying to a distressed minor about clear evidence of him being guilty of murdering his sister is incredibly unfair. It is also unfair to the Crowe family that it took the court so long to convict Richard Tuite. The evidence against him was overwhelming, and yet the police were still hung up on their suspicions of Michael Crowe. Had Michael been older and more mature, the police may not have been able to coerce his confession. The court did come to an appropriate ruling eventually, but Tuite should have received a longer sentence than thirteen years. Even though the murder was not premeditated, it was still a murder. Apart from the length of the sentence, the court’s ruling should not have been any different. Tuite is guilty and Michael Crowe is totally innocent. Bell, R. (2009). //Michael crowe's forced confession//. Retrieved from [] Hansen, M. (n.d.). Untrue confessions. //American Bar Association Journal//, Retrieved from [] City News Service. (2009, March). //California// //innocence project investigating stephanie crowe case//. Retrieved from [] Leung, R. (Photographer). (2005). //Brother confesses to girl's murder. but did he do it?// [Web]. Retrieved from []
 * __ Citations __**

Online Image [Stephanie Crowe] Retrieved November 16, 2009 from [] Online Image [Richard Raymond Tuite] Retrieved November 16, 2009 from __h__ [|ttp://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/not_guilty/coerced_confessions/6.html] Online Image [Michael Crowe’s Interrogation] Retrieved November 16, 2009 from []