Michael Politte’s roommate brought him a manual from the Missouri Department of Revenue so he could study for his driver’s license exam. He plans to take the test later this year, when he gets out of prison.
It will be his first driver’s license.
Politte is 37. He’s been in jail or prison since he was 14, when he was accused — falsely, he says — of killing his mother by setting her on fire in the trailer where they lived in Potosi, Missouri. Politte was sentenced to life in prison, his youth stolen from him by a system that rushed to judgment. Since his conviction, one of the deputies in the case, and two of the jurors, have joined with his sisters and his attorneys in questioning the conviction. The state has admitted its key evidence was based on bad science.
Politte, who has always maintained his innocence, has a habeas corpus petition before the Missouri Supreme Court, filed by attorneys with the Midwest Innocence Project and MacArthur Justice Center, seeking his full exoneration.
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In the meantime, he’s preparing for his first taste of freedom, really, in his life.
“I’ve never been free,†Politte told me in a phone call this week from prison. “I’ve always been told what to do. I just want to hang out on the porch and eat barbecue with my family.â€
Last week, the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole granted Politte the parole he may have never received if not for a law passed last year by the Missouri Legislature. He is scheduled to walk out of the Jefferson City Correctional Center on April 23. The law is a long-awaited response to the changing landscape surrounding juvenile sentences, that was spurred by a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings that juveniles sent to prison should not be treated the same way as adults. The new Missouri law has created a flurry of opportunities for people like Politte, sent away when they were children, to seek their freedom.
Some of them, friends of Politte’s in prison, were guilty of their crimes, but they have grown up in prison, their minds and hearts changing as they aged. “It’s ground-breaking, and it’s something that has been in the works since 2005,†says one of Politte’s attorneys, Megan Crane, about the parole board’s work scheduling dozens of hearings on cases of men and women who were sentenced to life without parole when they were children. “It’s been a slow and long road for Missouri to accept and meaningfully implement those Supreme Court opinions.â€
The first of those opinions, issued in March 2005, was a Missouri case titled , in which the nation’s high court ruled that applying the death penalty to minors is “cruel and unusual punishment†in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
“We’ve come a long way in the 17 years from the Roper case,†Crane says. “Kids are different. They aren’t miniature adults. They are both less culpable and more capable of rehabilitation. Recidivism rates for people who went in as a kid are dramatically lower.â€
For Politte, though, parole is just the beginning.
“This was never the main event for him. For him it’s all about exoneration, and justice for his mother,†Crane says. “He’s thrilled he’ll be able to continue that fight at home with his sister rather than behind bars.â€
Politte plans to live with his sister, Melonie, who has been one of his biggest advocates. They talk on the phone nearly every day. He has a job lined up. He’s looking forward to spending time with his nieces and his nephews and watching his beloved ºüÀêÊÓƵ Blues.
“The ultimate goal is to get my conviction vacated and seek justice for my mother,†Politte says. “I’m excited. I’m relieved. I feel like I don’t have to view life through the eyes of a tired heart anymore.â€