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The Case of Mike Politte
📻 Episode #260
🎙️ Hosted by Maggie Freleng
📅 May 16, 2022
About This Episode
On December 5, 1998, a 14 year old Mike Politte woke up to find his Mineral Point, MO home filled with smoke. When he checked on his mom, he found her on the floor – on fire. After days of interrogations, investigators decided that Mike had been grieving incorrectly and that he must have been…
The Case
On December 5, 1998, a 14 year old Mike Politte woke up to find his Mineral Point, MO home filled with smoke. When he checked on his mom, he found her on the floor – on fire. After days of interrogations, investigators decided that Mike had been grieving incorrectly and that he must have been the perpetrator. Despite evidence pointing to other relatives and evidence against Mike eventually being disproved, Mike was convicted of second degree murder in the killing of his own mother and condemned to spend the next 2 decades in prison. Maggie speaks to Mike Politte at Jefferson City Correctional Center in MO., Megan Crane J.D., Mike's advocate, and Melonie Politte, Mike's sister.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-michael-politte-after-wrongful-conviction
https://twitter.com/michaelpolitte?lang=en
https://lavaforgood.com/with-maggie-freleng/
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:04:26“Speaker 1: Mike remembers being especially close with his mom Rita. Speaker 4: My mom got me into sports, right. She played softball Speaker 4: when she was younger, giving me my first ball glove. Speaker 4: She'd always organized practices in our yard and she could Speaker 4: have all the kids over practice.”
00:18:12“Speaker 7: interest in that interrogation room and was not an adequate Speaker 7: protective figure for Mike. Speaker 1: Which seems obvious given Ed's nasty, violent divorce from Rita, Speaker 1: but law enforcement didn't seem to consider this, nor did Speaker 1: they consider how his presence might impact Mike, and in fact,”
00:31:47“Speaker 1: Mecan says, the state even concedes that this evidence is. Speaker 7: False, yet they are still fighting his litigation and still Speaker 7: fighting to keep him in prison. Speaker 1: One of the detectives has even come forward with her Speaker 1: own opinion on the case.”
Listen to the Episode
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