Twenty years after he was sentenced to life in prison as a teenager, Michael Politte has been given news that once seemed impossible: He has been granted a release date and will leave prison this spring.
Politte was notified Tuesday that he will be released from the Jefferson City Correctional Center on April 23. At that point, he’ll be 38 years old. He was 14 when he was first arrested and 18 when he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Through a long legal battle, waged first at the U.S. Supreme Court and subsequently in Missouri, former juvenile offenders like Politte are now getting a second chance at freedom.
And in Politte’s case, the parole board’s blessing has special poignancy: He has long insisted that he is innocent — and he plans to continue fighting to clear his name.
“I'm gonna throw punches,” he told St. Louis Public Radio last fall. “I'm gonna keep throwing punches if the Supreme Court denies me, I'm gonna throw another punch. I'm not gonna stop fighting. And justice for Rita.”
Politte was convicted of murdering his mother, Rita, in rural Washington County, Missouri, and then setting her body ablaze. He was just 14 at the time of her death.
Experts have pointed to numerous problems with his trial, including the fact that the forensic evidence used to convict him had been disproven even at the time. They note he received a perfunctory defense, with his overworked public defender presenting a defense that lasted just half a day and failed to challenge key pieces of evidence. Multiple jurors have said they no longer believe Politte is guilty and have filed affidavits in his support.
The parole board’s decision, which follows a Jan. 20 hearing, does not consider any questions of innocence, by design. It’s only meant to consider how former juvenile offenders like Politte have matured over time and whether their record in prison suggests they are ready to be released to the community.
Politte’s petition to the Missouri Supreme Court, asking justices to appoint a special master to weigh the evidence against him, was filed last fall by attorneys with the Midwest Innocence Project and the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center. It remains pending.
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