The trial for the teenage boy who shot his mother and claimed to have attempted to rape her has already started; his tell-all 911 dispatch calls were played before a jury of 7 women and 5 men. He is being tried as a juvenile offender and is charged with 1st degree murder and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.
Noah Crooks’ defense attorney, William Kutmus, acknowledged that the boy committed the shooting of his own mother in his opening statement. However, he argues that his client was insane at the moment the crime occurred and that he was suffering from a mental disorder known as the Intermittent Explosive Disorder. It is characterized by short outbursts of violence.
On March 24, local authorities in Osage, Iowa responded to a 911 dispatch call made by Noah. Police found the dead body of Noah’s mother, Gretchen Crooks, 37, in their Osage home. She had multiple gunshot wounds and was naked from the waist down. Investigators found that she had a total of 20 gunshot wounds in different parts of the body. The boy used a.22 caliber hunting rifle.
In the dispatch call played by the prosecution in their opening statements, Noah Crooks tells the dispatcher of the crime and that he “tried to rape her. I tried to rape her but I couldn’t do it…I tried to rape my own mother…” The father, William Crooks arrived later after getting a call about what happened to his wife and son.
A few hours prior the crime occurred, Gretchen Crooks allegedly confiscated her son’s gaming console as a reprimand for doing bad in school. The jury is looking at the possibility and connection of this with a Noah’s statement in the recording that said ‘I should never have played Call of Duty’. However, no known motive has been established yet.
Mrs Crooks works as a nurse at the Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa while working full time on her master’s degree at the University of Iowa. There have been no prior records of anyone in their family having run-ins with the law.
On the day of the arrest, an officer from the responding Mitchell County sheriff’s office asked for William Crooks’ permission to speak with his son. The father responded with “do what you have to do”. This has now been subject to questioning by the defense and the validity of using the dispatch call as evidence since there has been no written or signed statement that William Crooks allows the use of it as evidence until April 2nd. Iowa law states that in juvenile offenses, guardian’s permission is imperative. The defense is also questioning the manner in which the questioning was held, saying the boy was not questioned in the presence of his lawyer.
Meanwhile, social workers, teachers and parents are equally baffled as to what led the young boy to do such to his mother. A Des Moines social worker and an expert on dealing with juvenile mental health cases calls the sexual abuse attempt “completely out of the norm and totally unheard of”.
The teachers and school authorities at Osage Elementary, where Noah attends his eighth grade, have already called up other children and offered help on counseling.
Premium Link: The Mays Law Firm – Brevard County Defense Lawyers – How can you get your link here?