Noah Crooks was thirteen years old when he murdered his mother. This teen killer would shoot his mother over twenty times causing her death. When asked about what his punishment should be for killing his mother he said he thought he would be grounded. Needless to say the judge did not feel the same way and sentenced the teen to fifty years in prison.
Daily Mail (and don’t forget to run anti-virus after) has a detailed report on the incident that involves the kid from Osage, Iowa laying waste to his own mother with a .22 caliber rifle. The crazy part about it? It was his rifle, given to him on his 11th birthday as a gift…from his mother. An internet full of facepalms wouldn’t do this story any sort of justice as a reaction to the outcome.
According to Noah Crooks, who is now 14, says he doesn’t know why he did it. He was actually the one who dialed 911 and called the police after shooting and killing his mother after failing to follow through with raping her.
Crooks’ defense attorney is citing a temporary case of insanity that washed over the child, and Noah himself told 911 operators that he must have some form of ADD (i.e,. Attention Deficit Disorder), saying…
‘I feel crazy and I know I’m not. I think I have some form of ADD,’ Crooks told the 911 operator. ‘I tried to rape her. I tried to rape her but I couldn’t do it.’Who tries to rape their own mom? My life is down the drain now.’
An Osage teen said he didn’t consider the consequences of shooting his mother 22 times in 2012, killing her.
“I didn’t think anything would happen. I thought I would maybe get grounded,” Noah Crooks, who was 13 at the time of the slaying, would later say during a meeting with his father and counselors after he was found guilty of second-degree murder.
Instead, a judge sentenced Noah Crooks to 50 years in prison when he turned 18 in 2016, and on Friday the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the punishment.
Crooks, now 19 and eligible for parole, challenged the district court’s handling of the case, arguing it shouldn’t have been prosecuted under the state’s youthful offender statutes, which allowed the juvenile court to transfer the case to adult court.
He also argued the sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
In its decision, the Iowa Supreme Court noted that Iowa’s youthful offender law allows the court to track a youth’s progress before deciding any prison sentence. In this case, the court had about five years to track Crooks.
The high court ruled the sentencing court acted within its discretion by imposing the 50-year term, noting a psychologist who examined Crooks in 2012 opined he wasn’t capable of experiencing guilt and remorse. The psychologist concluded there was no treatment that could change his personality traits, and the prospects of rehabilitation before age 18 were nil.
Authorities said Crooks killed his mother, Gretchen, on March 24, 2012, at their home in rural Osage. He approached her once with a .22-caliber rifle while she was making dinner but decided against shooting her then because it wouldn’t have been honorable to shoot her in the back, court records state.
A short time later, he shot her as she sat on a couch. He then sent a text message to his father, who was away at a work-related party, saying he accidentally killed his mother, but his father thought it was a joke.
Crooks then called 911 to report the shooting and express concerns for his own future. He was convicted for second-degree murder during a 2013 and turned over to the State Training School in Eldora until he turned 18 and went before a district court judge for sentencing in 2016.
During his time in Eldora, he avoided addressing the reason behind the slaying. Before the sentencing his father confronted him during a meeting with counselors, and Crooks responded he “thought we would be better off without her,” court records state.
At the May 2016 sentencing hearing, Crooks’ father, William Crooks, said he visited his son several times at Eldora, pushing him to talk about his mother. “In the past four years, you have never once spoken about your mother. You have shown no remorse.
“Four years is not enough to pay for taking your mother’s life. I’m sorry; I love you, Noah, but to let you out would ruin so many more lives.”
Noah Crooks is currently incarcerated at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility and his current release date is 2039.