Politte v. Falkenrath

Michael Politte was only 14 years old when police investigators targeted him hours after his mother’s murder as the primary suspect, leading to him being falsely charged, convicted, and imprisoned for over 20 years. The MacArthur Justice Center is dedicated to litigating innocence claims for defendants like Michael, who lose huge swaths of their lives to wrongful convictions.  

In 1998, 14-year-old Michael awoke to the smell of smoke and found his mother, Rita, dead with half of her body consumed in flames on the bedroom floor of their trailer. He called the police, who targeted young Micheal as the primary suspect because he was the only family member in the home upon their arrival and he was not behaving as they felt he “should.”  

Over the course of 48 hours, Michael was interrogated multiple times by four different law enforcement officers without sleep, an attorney, or the assistance of an impartial adult. During this questioning, despite his age and proximity to his mother’s gruesome death, the detectives’ judgement was that, Michael, a shocked child, was “a cold, emotionless, remorseless killer,” instead of seeing him for the traumatized kid that he was.  

In addition to the detectives’ erroneous assessment of Michael, at trial, the only forensic evidence prosecutors presented to jurors tying Michael to the scene of the crime proved to be false. They alleged to have found gasoline on Michael’s shoes, paired with the Fire Marshal’s unsubstantiated conclusion that the fire used to burn his mother’s body was started with gasoline.  

However, further investigation of the forensics conclusively proves that there was no gasoline on Michaels’ shoes. What forensics detected on Michael shoes was in fact an aromatic solvent used in the shoe’s manufacturing – a verifiable fact at the time of the trial that the State of Missouri later accepted. The Fire Marshall’s conclusion was also debunked, with no conclusion reached about the source of the fire.  

There is currently no remaining forensic evidence to support Michael’s conviction that labeled him as his mother’s murderer and left him in prison for 23 years. Three jurors have since submitted affidavits claiming with what they know now, they would have never found Michael guilty. 

Represented by the MacArthur Justice Center, the Midwest Innocence Project, and Langdon & Emison, Michael has filed a post-conviction petition asserting his innocence and demanding justice for his mother. 

UPDATES 

In April 2022, Michael was released on parole from the Jefferson City Correctional Center but his fight for exoneration continues. 

In May 2022, Josh Hedgecorth, the prosecuting attorney for Washington County, filed a motion to vacate Michael Politte’s conviction. The Missouri Supreme Court heard arguments in early 2023 from the state’s attorney general opposing Mr. Hedgecorth’s motion.