Michael Crowe This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Michael Crowe: 'There was justice, I think' North County Times - North San Diego and Southwest Riverside County News

   www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/30/2004   Last Visited: 5/30/2004

   Michael Crowe: 'There was justice, I think'
   ...
   ESCONDIDO ---- Vindication has finally arrived for Michael Crowe.
   ...
   "There was justice, I think," Michael Crowe said Thursday, the day after the verdict. "As much as there can be."
   
   Michael Crowe watched the verdicts on television. He wasn't worried when he heard the verdict of not guilty to first-degree murder, but the next verdict ---- not guilty of second-degree murder ---- did come as a surprise.
   
   But, he said, before he could think too much, on came the next verdict. Guilty of voluntary manslaughter. He'd waited forever to hear it.
   
   A brutal crime
   
   On Thursday night, Crowe relaxed barefoot with his family at their home in Escondido, his demeanor much more at ease than during the three-month trial. He smiles more easily now, and grins as his young wife brings out her pet hamster Rocky.
   
   It's a far cry from the horror of Jan. 21, 1998, when Michael Crowe awoke to screaming. Outside his bedroom door, he saw his mother laying on top of Stephanie on Stephanie's bedroom floor. He got only a glimpse of his sister as his mother pleaded with him to help.
   
   She had been stabbed to death sometime during the night, and her family had just found her.
   ...
   Within two days, Michael Crowe, a freshman at Orange Glen High School, faced charges for the killing.
   ...
   "It's what I expected," Michael Crowe said. "I didn't believe the jury would buy it and that it would be a part of their decision. Every person who has ever watched all of the tapes has come to the same conclusion."
   
   Michael Crowe has seen the tape of one of the two police interrogations, and that's only because he was forced to watch it during the trial as prosecutors walked him through it in front of the jury.
   
   The young man struggled in court that day, biting his lip, closing his eyes and swallowing hard as the image and voice of himself as a teenager played on the screen. He finally broke into tears that day.
   ...
   Michael Crowe doesn't care to watch the other tape.
   ...
   Michael Crowe is 20 now. He was only 14 when his face was made infamous. He still lives in the media glare, and many folks still say he is guilty of Stephanie's vicious stabbing.
   
   People recognize his face, recognize his name when he uses his bank card. Some offer kind words ---- those are the brave ones, Michael Crowe said ---- but some just whisper and stare. He knows what they are thinking.
   
   "Part of me cares," Crowe said, "but the public believes what they want to believe."
   ...
   Still, even with Tuite's guilty verdict, Crowe doesn't think the scrutiny will ever end.
   
   "I think it's a step in the right direction," he said, "but time will tell how much effect it has. Nothing gives me my life back."
   
   The joy of the verdict may be short-lived: News has since hit that the jury relied on evidence that wasn't supposed to be in the deliberation room. Tuite's attorneys have pledged to seek a new trial in light of it.
   
   "Now there's so much confusion," Crowe said. "Obviously, I wasn't happy about it, but they (the defense) had to find something."
   
   The young man brushes off opinions of legal pundits who think the issue will lead to a new trial. Those are the same experts, he said, who predicted a hung jury or Tuite's acquittal.
   
   Michael said his first thought on hearing the manslaughter conviction was of Stephanie.
   ...
   "The jury's verdict was her voice," Michael Crowe said.
   ...
   Michael Crowe and his wife, Stacey, live with his parents. They met when they were in high school, the school he transferred to following the allegations. She knew about the accusations against him.
   
   He has a 4.0 grade point average at Palomar College, where he has been a student for three years. He took the semester off so he could dedicate his time to the trial. Next on his list is a transfer to UC San Diego to major in computer engineering.
   ...
   "I don't think it amounts to much," Michael Crowe said.