By
2004-03-22


A man has been accused of murder.  He has an extensive criminal record and a diagnosis of a potentially dangerous mental condition.  He was placed in the neighborhood of the murder, on the night of the murder. He was found with the victims blood on his shirt.  And the City of Escondido in California seems to want him found not guilty. 

More than six years ago, on the night of January 21st, 1998, twelve year old Stephanie Crowe was brutally murdered, by nine knife wounds to her chest. Although her mother heard some noises, which did wake her, she thought it was the cat, and didnt get up. Having met that same cat, I can easily understand why she stayed in bed.

The morning brought the mind-numbing discovery of Stephanies cold, blood covered body. Her parents immediately called 911, bringing the Escondido Police Department. Then the nightmare really began.

The entire family, Stephanies mother, father, grandmother, older brother and little sister, were all separated and taken to police headquarters. They were photographed, required to strip nude and surrender their clothing, and then were interrogated by police detectives. Mr. Crowe stated that the experience was degrading. But it was only going to get worse.

Police detectives quickly laid the blame on Stephanies brother Michael, and implicated two of his friends, Joshua Treadway and Aaron Houser. All three boys were interrogated, without benefit of council or the presence of their parents, in a way that Dr. Richard Leo of the University of California, Irvine, an expert in interrogation and false confessions, characterized as "psychological torture." The police used a bogus "Computer Voice Stress Analyzer" to supposedly help the boys to prove their innocence, only to be told that they had failed the test, and were clearly guilty. Detectives McDonough, Wrisley, Claytor and Sweeney used deception, threats, and false promises of less punishment to force confessions from the boys.

They were successful with Michael and Joshua, who were both extremely traumatized. Aaron refused to confess, despite the abuse hurled at him. Dr. Leo goes on to state in his report of the boy's interrogations that "the lengthy interrogations of Michael Crowe, Joshua Treadway, and Aaron Houser are among the most egregiously improper, the most psychologically brutal and the most recklessly negligent interrogations I have ever observed."

All three boys were arrested, and ultimately were to be tried as adults, something they were promised would not happen if they confessed. Jury selection was underway, when DNA found on the shirt of a transient, Richard Tuite, who was in the Crowe's neighborhood the night of the murder, was discovered to be that of Stephanie. In February of 1999, the charges against the boys were subsequently dropped, the police department and prosecution stating that they needed to further investigate the case.

A year later, the Escondido Police Department announced that they were transferring the case to the San Diego County Sheriffs office, with the State Attorney Generals office taking responsibility for the prosecution of the case. During that time, Richard Tuite found himself in and out of jail, on unrelated charges. Tuite was finally arrested less than two years after the transfer of the case, and is now standing trial for the murder of Stephanie Crowe, six years after her death.

Although Richard Tuite is on trial for Stephanies murder, he has an unexpected ally - the City of Escondido and the Escondido Police Department. And the reason? Money. The Crowe, Treadway and Houser families are suing multiple agencies for the violation of the boys' civil rights in federal court. This is a multi-million dollar civil case that the City of Escondido seems to be willing to do anything to not lose, even if it results in the release of a suspected murderer.

Assistant City Attorney Mark Waggoner sits in the courtroom of the Richard Tuite murder trial every day, taking notes. He sits on the defense side behind Tuites family, and during breaks has been seen talking to the defense team. He has even been seen passing a note to defense attorney during testimony.

Mr. Waggoner was, of course, not available for comment, but City Attorney Jeffrey Epp responded by e-mail, "We have an attorney monitoring the proceedings, because the boys and their families have filed separate, multi-million dollar lawsuits against the City in federal court. As part of our defense of this federal civil case, we are monitoring the manner in which the facts are developed, and the witnesses testify in the Tuite trial. The City is most certainly not in attendance at the Tuite trial for the purpose of assisting the defense."

Although it is clear that Mr Waggoners first goal is to monitor the trial for any information that might aid getting the city out from under these multi-million dollar suits, it is equally clear if Tuite is found not guilty, then the city can continue in their insistence that Michael Crowe and his two friends are indeed responsible for Stephanies murder. As Milt Silverman, attorney for the Crowe family observed, "The police department, who should be putting criminals in jail, are trying to get this murderer off." He further asserted that "they (the city officials) have perpetuated the wrong."

Although it has been stated that the actions of the city and Mr. Waggoner are not illegal, we must ask ourselves some hard questions about the morality of what is happening. Is it time for the City of Escondido to cut their loses, admit the interrogations of these victimized boys were beyond what the law allows, and settle out of court? Is it moral for them to even be in the courtroom where the Tuite trial is being conducted, let alone being seen giving what can only appear as assistance to the defense?

Perhaps it is best summed up in Escondido City Councilman Ron Newmans words: "...absolutely no one wins in these situations, there are simply too many victims".