WEBVTT - #260 Maggie Freleng with Mike Politte 0:00:01.160 --> 0:00:04.760 A note for listeners, this episode contains discussion of suicide. 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:07.000 Please listen with caution and care. 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:13.440 So, Jason, I've been working on this one episode about 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:15.800 a man who went to prison when he was fourteen 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.599 years old, in adult prison, and just thinking about, you 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:22.560 know what a child's growing up in that kind of environment, 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:25.479 what that does to them. 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:28.800 Yeah, you think about I mean a fourteen year old, 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.360 that's a child. You're in eighth grade, maybe ninth grade. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.160 I mean, it's unimaginable to take a child and put 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.559 them in a situation that is the most adult of 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:40.519 adult nightmarriage. 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:42.680 Yeah, I mean, so just even the concept that we 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:47.720 interrogate children, especially you know, when police are allowed to 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:48.240 lie to. 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.839 Them, That is a Shakespearean type of a scenario, right, 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:56.160 And of course we know that young people are much 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.600 more likely to confess to crimes that they didn't commit 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.800 because they're so aptible to the tricks and the lies 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.959 and even physical or psychological abuse that they endure. 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:12.920 You know, I was in a peg, but yet I 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.880 was still aware that I didn't do what they're saying 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.959 that I get, and I stuck to that even though 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.399 they were threatened me with life in prison. And you 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.760 know what happens to kids to go to prison. I 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:26.640 never wavered from anything. 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:30.520 That I ever said, from love of for good. This 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:44.360 is wrongful conviction with Maggie Freeling today Michael Polly as 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.800 Dawn broke. On December fifth, nineteen ninety eight, fourteen year 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.880 old Mike Pollet woke up to the smell of something burning. 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:53.760 His friend Josh was sleeping over and when they opened 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:59.280 his bedroom door, they were inundated with smoke. Mike and 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:01.920 Josh screw to crawl out of the house to escape. 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:04.400 On the way, Mike stopped by his mother's room to 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:08.840 check on her. What he saw scarred him forever. Rita 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:11.200 Polyte was laying on the floor, face up, with her 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.280 legs spread open, with just a pair of underwear on. 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.959 Her body was on fire. Thirty nine year old Rita 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:22.040 Polyte was dead. Josh ran to a neighbors to call 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.360 nine one one, while Mike tried to put the fire 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:26.799 out with a hose. When the police showed up, they 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.520 immediately made it clear that Mike was the prime suspect 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:35.440 in his mother's murder, despite other suspects linked more closely 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:38.959 with the evidence at hand, including his own father. Mike 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:43.160 was arrested, charged and convicted for the murder of his mother. 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.320 And then at that point that's what he said, is 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.239 your father responsible for what? Haven't I said yes? He 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:54.919 said did you see him? I said no. He said, 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:56.560 did you hear anything? I said no, I didn't hear anything. 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:58.600 I didn't see anything. But he's the only one that 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:02.320 I know that would hate her that much to do 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.800 that through and what I've seen was evil, it was hatred. 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.040 Michael Pollet was born in Mineral Point, Missouri. He grew 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.480 up in a poor family. He lived with his parents, 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.600 Rita and ed Polyte, and his siblings in a trailer 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:24.320 in the village. 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:28.560 I was pretty happy kid growing up kindergarten through fifth grade, 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:32.040 right I was. I was on honor roll Frede's student, 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.760 loved go to school. I was outgoing. I was always 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.840 always with my friends, ride and by Sibilsfoose motorcycles. 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.520 Mike is the youngest of three kids. His sister Crystal 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:46.680 is the oldest, and then there's Melanie, who's seven years 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:48.560 older than him. Here's Melanie. 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:52.280 So when he was little, he wasn't a terrible kid. 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.280 He was just you know, he was rayloxsious, fun and 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:58.720 liked to like play outside, and he had like you 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.840 have good friends. They weren't never in like real bad trouble. 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:04.920 I was always his babysitter. Crystal didn't never have to 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:06.760 do anything because she was the oldest, so she got 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:08.680 to go out with her friends do whatever. I was 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:11.280 always the one stuck at home babysitting Mike. And at 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:15.400 the time, I'm like, I hated it, hated it, But 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.720 now I'm like, I'm so glad that happened, because you know, 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:20.680 if it didn't, would we be this close. 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:22.640 I don't know. I would like to hope that we 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:24.440 would be, but you never know. 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:29.039 Mike remembers being especially close with his mom Rita. 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:33.160 My mom got me into sports, right. She played softball 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.000 when she was younger, giving me my first ball glove. 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:39.880 She'd always organized practices in our yard and she could 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:41.800 have all the kids over practice. 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:46.640 Lying He always took up for our mom, like with 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.679 kids at school, you know, back in the day around 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.120 this time, they were always telling your mama jokes like 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:53.680 your mama is. 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:55.479 So fat, blah blah whatever. 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:58.400 Somebody did that to him and he was very upset 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:00.360 about it, and he was like, you. 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:02.479 Better never talk about my mother. He almost got a 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:05.640 fight with this kid, and it was like, you know, okay. 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.520 It's a joke, but that's how sensitive he is about 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:09.840 our mom, you know, like. 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:10.720 You just don't mess with her. 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.880 Mike's dad, Ed also had a special place and makes heart, 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:18.480 and he helped foster one of his passions racing cars. 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.320 I looked up to him quite a bit. My dad 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:23.680 raced stock cars at the local dirt track. Made me 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.160 want to do you know, every Saturday night. As a child, 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:31.240 I remember going to the races, and really it's been 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:34.200 a child of dream mind to actually raise a late model. 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.640 I'm look forward to that in the future. But growing 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:42.400 up it was. It was good up until the point 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:48.120 where our family dynamics began to change because of infidelity 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:49.000 on my father's part. 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.320 Yeah, there was definitely some physical violence, a lot of arguing, 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:59.600 a lot of mental abuse for you know, from my 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:00.559 dad to my mom. 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:03.120 He also did it to us too, you know, like. 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:07.040 Guilt trips and he would always talk bad about our 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:08.200 mom to us. 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.640 Don't know why. That's definitely not good parenting. 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.400 Mike's and Melanie's dad was also pretty absent. You work 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:20.640 nights at the Ford motor plant, and so Mike and 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.760 his sisters rarely saw him home. Melanie says her mom 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:25.880 was really the one who raised them and took care 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:26.240 of them. 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:28.080 She was the one going to all of our games 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.159 and all our school functions and Mike's. 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.920 And all of ours. You know, our dad never went. 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:34.839 You know, he could have went to days if he 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.240 really wanted to spend time with his family, I'm sure. 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.880 But he always just chose to work nights at Ford. 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:43.159 I wish we were okay with because honestly, we didn't 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.320 like him being around anyway, because he was always cranky 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:46.640 and he always had the TV. 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:49.839 So that's when we were kids, like a dad's gonna 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:50.159 be home. 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:52.960 Great. Now we're gonna have to leave for the whole 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:54.800 weekend because nobody wants to be around. 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.480 Mike's parents divorced when he was young. His mom did 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:00.640 not hide the reason why. 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:06.400 I guess she recorded the phone conversation with him and 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:11.080 another woman, and my mom played it for me and 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.040 both my sisters, and she said, this is why I'm 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:18.600 leaving your father. And we asked him and he denied it, 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.440 and he united that was even him on the line, 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.239 And I think it was that moment and I realized 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.240 that he probably wasn't who I thought he was. 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:33.360 It was around this time as a pre team that 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:34.640 Mike started acting out. 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:39.600 I kind of used the divorce and my parents' separation 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:43.640 as a crush as far as my bad behavior. I 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:45.640 would always turn to that and be like, well, it's 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.960 their fault because they're getting divorced and now, and people 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.200 sympathize with it. So it kind of helped me getting 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.480 out of getting getting into trouble with this kind of 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.480 maybe feel like that I can, you know, be as 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:01.120 mischievous as I was. I wanted to be really. 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:02.560 So what kinds of things would you do? 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:08.440 Well? I, you know, we we said a lot of fires, 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:13.120 me and my friends. I became somewhat of a bully 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:17.440 as school. I remember once we does It's truck, We 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.960 throw oranges and natos and we stomped on on the 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.120 hood of it and hit it with golf clubs and 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:29.920 baseball bats, and I ended up stealing CDs and like Walmart. 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.800 That was about the extent of bad behavior. 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:37.160 And not only did Mike's bad behavior escalate during the divorce, 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:39.680 but so did his father, Ed's behavior. 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.400 I remember a few violent arguments where they would throw 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:46.559 like pops and pans at each other and stuff like that. 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:48.880 It only happened like twice that I remember when I 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:49.520 was young. 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:54.280 But as we got older, we only really witnessed like 0:08:54.360 --> 0:09:01.520 the yelling, the arguments. Mike unfortunately ain't got to witness 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:02.840 the actual violence. 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.120 I remember specifically they were arguing over a sunflower clock 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.640 and a coworker gaze to her that he wouldn't let 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:14.400 her have it, and the argument became thumps, and I 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:16.400 grabbed the baseball back to my room. I ran out 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.040 of my room. They were in the living room. He 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:20.679 was on top of her. I told him to get 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:24.959 off of her. He did, and my mom got up 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:28.960 and as we were leaving, she grabbed a picture of 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.040 his girlfriend and off the wall. Food on ground, stopped 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:37.160 on and we left, throwing her divorce proceedings. I actually 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:42.960 testified against my father without this incident. It was those 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:45.800 moments like that It pushed me further away from my 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:53.880 father right And it's those moments that I remember that 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:55.720 take me back to when I see my mother burn 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:59.760 it on the floor, it's easy for me to come 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:01.880 to the conclusion who's responsible for. 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.760 On December fourth, nineteen ninety eight, Mike's mom, Rita, went 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:15.560 out with her friends. One of her friends remembers fourteen 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.520 year old Mike calling and saying he was hungry, so 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:21.640 on her way home around eleven thirty pm, Rita stopped 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.880 to get subway sandwiches. Mike had invited his friend Josh 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.160 to stay over that night. While the boys waited for 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:30.360 Rita to come home. With food, boys being boys, they 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:34.040 went and burned railroad ties on the railroad tracks near 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:38.520 the house. Shortly after midnight, Rita got home soon after 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:42.160 the boys ate. They all went to bed. Mike's sister, Melanie, 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.200 was twenty one at the time and she also lived 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:46.240 in the trailer, but she was over at a friend's 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:51.280 house that night. In the early hours of December fifth, 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:54.520 as light was just beginning to appear, Mike woke to 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:55.440 the smell of smoke. 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.720 And I woke up and either I smelled or I 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:02.480 seemed smoked, and I looked down at Josh and smoking 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:03.199 a cigarette. 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.600 Josh was not At this point, the trailer was filling 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:08.920 with smoke and they had to get out. Mike and 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.960 Josh crawled to escape. On the way, Mike stopped at 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.800 his mom's room to check on her. To his horror, 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:17.760 he found Rita burning on the ground. She was face up, 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.840 her legs spread open, and was only wearing a pair 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:25.200 of underwear. Mike and Josh both ran out of the house, 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:28.040 Josh to the neighbors and Mike to get the hose. 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:32.440 Around six thirty am, police and first responders arrived to 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.959 the ghastly scene. Rita's body was burned from her pubic 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:44.599 region to her head. Immediately, Mike and Josh were separated 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:48.479 into different squad cars and taken to the station for questioning. 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:51.040 Detective Kurt Davis took. 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:55.520 Mike when he was transporting me from my home to 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.559 the Stares forman that morning. I asked him if he's 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:00.160 gonna be able to find out half of my mom. 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:05.120 He says, what do you mean, what happened to your mom? Well, well, 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:06.880 what happened like if vers throw was cuttered somewhere, you 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:07.800 guys wanna be able to tell that. 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:12.560 This conversation was later used against Mike in court, and they. 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.640 Used that as an indication that I was concerned that 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:18.319 they were going to find out, but I did right. 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.959 Instead of being a concern fourteen year old kid who 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:23.959 just witness a horrible thing. 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:36.360 This episode is underwritten by AIG, a leading global insurance company. 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:40.720 AIG is committed to corporate social responsibility and to making 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.800 a positive difference in the lives of its employees and 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.840 in the communities where we work and live. In light 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.600 of the compelling need for pro bono legal assistance, and 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:55.280 in recognition of AIG's commitment to criminal and social justice reform, 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:59.680 the AIG pro Bono Program provides free legal services and 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:03.839 all support to underrepresented communities and individuals. 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.840 Mike essentially became the prime suspect within moments of this crime. 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:16.480 This is making Crane. She's the co director of the 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:20.280 Missouri office of the MacArthur Justice Center, a civil rights organization, 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.280 and she thinks Mike immediately became a suspect because of 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:26.400 presumptions around the circumstances. 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.240 I mean, I think the basic premise probably was that 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.840 he was the only family member home at the time, 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.840 and in arson cases, that is the first person who's 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.360 looked at who else was in the home, particularly if 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:41.080 it's a family member who survived the fire. So he's 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:45.280 already under the spotlight for that fact. But for there 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:50.480 things quickly spiraled out of control because the police mischaracterized him. 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:55.200 They saw this kid who was traumatized, shocked, and they 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:59.920 misjudged all of his reactions his behaviors as evidence of guilt, 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.640 as evidence of a lack of remorse, as evidence of 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:07.199 a cold blooded killer, rather than evidence of adolescent behavior, 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.199 which research proves is common to all kids his age, 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:11.840 and evidence of trauma. 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:16.440 So after the police picked you up, they pretty quickly 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.720 homed in on you, and you were arrested very quickly. 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.520 What was going through your head? You know when you're 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:25.600 in this interrogation. 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.960 The interrogations were very intense. There was on occasions there 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:38.120 was multiple interrogators. There was a fire marshal, there was 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:44.480 Kerk Davis, who was the lead detective, and then also 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:47.400 the juvenile officers who were supposed to be there to 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.600 protect me and Josh's right. We're also asking in questions. 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:54.800 They used the same mind up questions over and over 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.840 and over. I related the same set of facts over 0:14:57.840 --> 0:14:58.440 and over and over. 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:00.680 So tell me, like, what were they what are they asking? 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:02.040 They repeatedly, Hey. 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.040 They were asking what happened? 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:04.600 Thank me? 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:10.320 Through the day before that evening that morning, and it 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.440 became it became a point where they were trying to 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:18.640 convince me right that I've done something, and I know 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:19.640 that I didn't do anything. 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:22.840 Mike says, every time he got to the park where 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:25.120 he woke up and found his mom, they would tell 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.040 him he was missing a big gap and ask him 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.200 what happened between the time he went to sleep and 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.480 when he woke up and found his mom. Tell it again, 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:36.320 over and over. 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:42.920 It went for hours, and my understanding, they treated Josh 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.000 the same way, and they would they would tell me 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:48.480 that he's telling on me, and they would tell him 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:52.440 that I'm telling on him, tactics that shouldn't be used 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:57.960 on juveniles, on children, for sure, but they completely ignored 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:05.040 the fact that statements never changed. And throughout all these interrogations, 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:08.720 there's twenty six consistencies between our statements, and that doesn't 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.960 happen of two kids that are lying about something. We're 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:15.480 trying to hide something, right, And they completely ignored all 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:16.320 of this information. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.520 Back at the crime scene, officer Tammy Bellfield had arrived 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.760 and almost immediately was told by Sheriff Ron Skyles that 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.560 a woman had intentionally been set on fire. Fire Investigator 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:37.160 Jim Holdman had concluded without any testing that a fire 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:40.840 accelerant had been poured on Rita. The autopsy also determined 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:44.520 that Rita had died of carbon monoxide poisoning and sustained 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:49.080 blunt force trauma to her head. Two baseball bats, a 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.560 fire poker, and a mag light flashlight were collected to 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:55.080 see if one was the weapon used to hit Rita, 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:58.880 but when tested later, these items returned no results. 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:00.800 I mean, what was going through your head where you 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:02.840 were like, this isn't real, Like what were you thinking? 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:03.920 You're like a little boy. 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:08.919 I was in a pack. I was in a panic, 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:15.040 but yet I was still aware that I didn't do 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.440 what they're saying that I get and I stuck to that, 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:21.320 even though I was in a panic, even though they 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:23.760 were threatened me with life in prison, and you know 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:27.200 what happened to kids to go to prison. I never 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.040 wavered from anything that I ever said. 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.359 Because Mike was a juvenile at the time, a juvenile 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.840 officer was present during this interrogation and his dad, Ed 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:38.040 was called in to be with him since Mike couldn't 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.960 be questioned alone. But Megan says Mike really did lack 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:43.480 critical support. 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.520 He did not have an attorney present. The people that 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:50.200 were there, I guess to arguably protect his rights. Were 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.520 one a juvenile officer who was there for some of 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:57.159 the interrogation, But it's the record makes clear that this 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:01.600 juvenile officer acted essentially as another interrogator, not in any 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.080 way as a protector of his rights. And Mike's dad, 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:10.680 who was indisputably at that point, the other prime suspect 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:12.840 in this case, So he had a clear conflict of 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:16.480 interest in that interrogation room and was not an adequate 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:18.040 protective figure for Mike. 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:22.480 Which seems obvious given Ed's nasty, violent divorce from Rita, 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.679 but law enforcement didn't seem to consider this, nor did 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:29.560 they consider how his presence might impact Mike, and in fact, 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.320 Mike was uncomfortable answering questions with Ed in the room. 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:36.679 When they were interrogating me, they asked me who you know? 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:39.399 Who do you think heard of your mother? My father 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:44.280 was like right beside me during these interrogations, and Karkas 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:46.720 asked me, do you want let me ask your father's stepfather? 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:50.040 I said yeah, And then at that point that's when 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.240 he said, is your father responsible for what have I 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.000 said yes, he said did you see him? I said no? 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:58.480 He said Did you hear anything? I said no, I 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:00.480 did't hear anything. I didn't see anything. But he's the 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:02.639 only one that I know that would hate her that 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:06.240 much to do that to her. And what I've seen 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:08.240 was evil, it was hatred. 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.960 But the cops didn't listen. Mike was interrogated for two days, 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.359 and during that time he was also hooked up to 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:25.600 a CVSA, a computer voice stress analysis test, which is 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:29.199 different from a lie detector test. This test supposedly to 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:33.080 text deception by measuring stress levels in the voice. 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:36.119 They hooked the microphone up to my other shirt and 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:40.320 put some on my finger, and they asked me. I 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.840 think it was like five basic questions. Did you murder 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:45.720 your mother? I said no. Do you know anybody I 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:49.720 want to hurt your mother? I said no. Did you 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:54.640 hear anybody? Did you hear anything? I said no. And 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.000 it may have been one or two more I can't remember, 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:01.280 But ultimately they told me that are true. 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.199 Meaning that the test showed he was lying. And we 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.320 can't corroborate whether Mike failed this stress test since we 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.880 don't have those results ourselves. Not that it really matters, though, 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:14.080 because these voice stress tests, which were frequently used by 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:17.840 law enforcement during the nineties have since been determined to 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:22.159 be wholly unreliable, and even if they were reliable, it 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:25.440 would have been no surprise that Mike had failed. Because 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:27.719 what we do know is that Mike was a fourteen 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:32.000 year old boy distraught after finding his mom brutally murdered, 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:36.359 that Mike's interrogations were not recorded, and that police officers 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:40.400 did not properly look into Ed as a suspect. 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:43.160 They think we can build a case against this kid. 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:47.680 Ed was a savvier suspect, and he arguably had an alibi. 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:51.560 They did some investigation into him, not much, but the 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.040 investigation they did do had more hurdles than their case 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:57.200 they were building against Mike, So I think they went 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.800 with the easier target, the easier case to build. Ed 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.040 supposedly had this alibi that he was at work, but 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.480 there are no time cards from Ford Motor Company proving 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:11.280 that Ed was not held accountable to be there at 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:14.000 all times, and even if he left at the time 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.720 that his shift supposedly ended, there still was time to 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:21.239 make that drive to Hope Well and back, so his 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:22.800 alibi was never rock solid. 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.240 On December seventh, Mike was arrested for the murder of 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:30.600 his mother, Rita Polle. 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:35.240 They arrest him on his lack of emotion and suspicious 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:37.840 reaction to his mother's death. 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:42.600 When Mike was arrested, laboratory testing on the items collected 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:46.800 the baseball, bats, flashlight, and poker had not yet returned results, 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:50.960 and after the testing was ultimately completed, nothing pointed to 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:52.840 Accelerant as the fire starter. 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:59.080 And I woke up my entire wolvers just gone. I 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:04.160 lost my murder, I lost my sisters, I lost myself, 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:07.720 like everything was everything was gone. 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:12.479 So had you guys ever thought about wrongful convictions before? 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:12.600 Like? 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:17.520 Was that something that never never, never even thought our 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:20.960 never crossed our mind that something like that happened. 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:26.639 No, never what I've ever thought the wrongful convictions happened until. 0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:31.680 Until they really did, like arrest them and take them 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:33.000 to jail and let him out. 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:42.960 Mike was sent to a juvenile detention facility to await trial. 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:45.960 Three days after the murder, a hearing was held to 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:49.280 determine whether to keep Mike detained, and despite the court 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.879 concluding the case was thin and circumstantial at best, Mike 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:54.320 remained in custody. 0:22:56.160 --> 0:23:00.080 And it felt like it felt like no one. It 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:01.800 felt like the only person that would have helped me 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:07.800 in that situation was my mother. Yeah, she was on 0:23:07.920 --> 0:23:12.760 long with us. So with that, I mean I was. 0:23:12.960 --> 0:23:19.119