Author: Donald McInnis

ISBN:  978-1-7323222-4-0

Donald McInnis, author ofShe’s So Cold, has enjoyed a legal career that spanned four decades in California. (2019, back cover) He has worked for the prosecution and the defense in his tenure. McInnis was part of the legal team for the trial covered in this book, the Crowe murder case, where he represented Aaron Houser. Aaron was one of three young teens falsely charged with murder in this hearing. McInnis drafted the Children’s Bill of Rights to potentially stifle police investigative abuses and their rush to judgment from continuing or perpetuating in the state of California.

The book opens with a horrific scene. Stephanie Crowe, a girl of fourteen, was brutally stabbed to death in her bedroom and nobody in her home knew anything was amiss until the morning. The home is occupied by the grandmother, the mother, the father, and two younger siblings. Stephanie is the eldest.

When the police detectives arrive they separate the family members and question them about what was seen or heard. Because Michael is exhibiting none of the symptoms they police believe a brother who just lost his sister would they immediately consider him as a potential suspect. Michael was not seen crying or broken up, but instead placated by playing his video games. The remainder of the family is nearly inconsolable. At the end of this day the police take the adults to a hotel and drop the children off at county lock-up facility.

The family is not allowed to speak and therefore knows nothing about what is going on in the alternate location. The children are questioned as if they were adults and were denied any advice from counsel. All are questioned more extensively. Conclusions are drawn without facts to back them up. Michael eventually become their prime murder suspect. Did he actually do it?

As the tale moves onward it is apparent that the police investigators want an open and shut case and care little about their lack of evidence to prosecute this heinous crime. For days on end Michael is subject to questioning and false allegations that evidence has been found that can place him as the murderer.

Michael is forlorn. He recalls going to the kitchen to get some aspirin for a headache in the middle of the night and perhaps a sound that he could not place, but nothing that could point to anyone who might be the murderer. The investigators do not believe him and continue to place words into his mouth and thoughts into his mind. He gets confused and has no idea whether he could possibly do something this awful and then not recall it at all, but they tell him he can and that other people in similar circumstances have had the same dilemma. The detectives get him to take a pseudo lie detector test and then manipulate his responses to suit their rush to judgment. They berate, browbeat and manipulate Michael until they get him to reluctantly confess to a murder he cannot recall.

Michael is not the only one the detectives believe may have had a hand in this murder and cover-up. They have yet to locate a murder weapon or anything that can tie Michael of anyone else at the scene of this crime.

Eventually the investigators involve two of Michael's friends in what they believe was a premeditated murder. Michael is highly intelligent and somewhat of a loner. His only two friends are also a bit off. But are they murders?

If you like real life drama and suspense this is may be a read for you.