Richard Tuite pleads guilty to meth possession
Tuite was previously convicted of voluntary manslaughter regarding the stabbing death of seventh-grader Stephanie Crowe, but was acquitted in a 2013 retrial. Author: City News Service Updated: 7:23 PM PDT April 8, 2021
ESCONDIDO, Calif. A man who was previously convicted, then acquitted of a 12-year-old Escondido girl s 1998 killing, pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor count of methamphetamine possession and was immediately sentenced to time served in custody.
Richard Raymond Tuite, 51, was arrested and charged in January of last year with a single felony count of being a convicted felon on prison grounds or adjacent lands. Details on why Tuite was allegedly at the downtown San Diego lockup were not clear, but he was charged with being at the jail while having prior convictions that include burglary, bribery and escape from a jail.
On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to the amended drug possession charge and was sentenced to credit for time served for about 150 days he spent in jail last year, according to the San Diego County District Attorney s Office.
Tuite was previously convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 13 years in state prison in the well-publicized case regarding the stabbing death of seventh-grader Stephanie Crowe, but his conviction was later overturned and he was acquitted in a 2013 retrial. He served eight years in prison after his initial conviction.
Crowe s body was found sprawled in the doorway of her bedroom by her grandmother early on the morning of Jan. 21, 1998. She had been stabbed nine times.
“It haunted me for years,” he said. “It haunts me still.”
Officially, the knife slaying of the 12-year-old Escondido girl in her bedroom remains unsolved. But that’s not what troubles the 76-year-old McInnis the most.
He’s haunted by the realization that his client, one of three teens originally charged in the case and later cleared, easily could have been convicted and sent to prison, perhaps for life.
Advertisement
“People who think this couldn’t happen to their kids need to think again,” McInnis said.
Last month, he released a new edition of his 2019 book on the case, “She’s So Cold,” to include recommendations for improving the judicial system. He said he hopes to preclude the mistakes that plagued the Crowe case and drowned it in reasonable doubt, making it unlikely justice will ever be achieved.