The murder conviction of a Calaveras County teen accused in the 2013 stabbing death of his little sister was overturned by a state appeals court that found two interviews were improperly admitted into evidence at his trial.
Leila Fowler, 8, was stabbed to death April 27, 2013. Leila was home along with her brother Isaiah, then 12, while their parents and other siblings went to a Little League game.
After the stabbing, Isaiah called his mom to tell her an intruder had entered the house, hit Leila and run away, according to the appeals court opinion, which described the investigation in detail. Inconsistencies in the boy’s story; a blood-stained T-shirt found by a scent-detector dog; and a lack of evidence of the intruder Isaiah described (including no blood trail leading out of the house), led police to identify him as the leading suspect.
During one of several interviews with detectives, after being confronted with the mounting evidence against him, Isaiah said, “I don’t remember doing it. But I guess I did. I don’t know,” according to the court document.
Isaiah’s lawyers dispute the prosecutions’ contention that no evidence pointed to an intruder, noting a long hair found on Leila’s body and some inconclusive partial finger prints on her door frame. The hair was analyzed for DNA and found to belong to an unidentified man.
The appeals court reviewed four interviews of the boy conducted during investigation of the crime and found that two of them should not have been admitted, as they violated his Miranda rights.
The trial court’s disposition of the case was reversed and it was remanded for rehearing in keeping with the appeal court’s ruling.
The Calaveras Sheriff’s Office in a statement said it stood by the investigation and “its commitment to seek justice for Leila Fowler.”
“The District Attorney’s Office joins in that commitment and is prepared for any re-trial of the case.”
The appeals court decision is not final and no new court date has been set.