- 2 years ago
High schoolers Courtney Schulhoff and Michael Morin found comfort in each other during tough times at home. When their families pulled them apart, things took a dark turn.
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00:00I was one of the most wonderful people I've ever met.
00:10Teenage angst, young love, Romeo and Juliet, and we've seen these incredibly dark outcomes.
00:17And then she told me, I put a baseball bat in the back door for you.
00:22There was two barefoot feet sticking 90 degrees up in the air from the trash can.
00:28Jack Moore is not the person who killed my father.
00:31I was.
00:32You know, if somebody's telling you they're gonna kill your dad, shoot him in the head,
00:36and all you can do is giggle?
00:39The snake reaches too far and they make the giggle into a conspiracy.
00:44Publish the verdict, please.
00:58I'm here today in Altamont Springs, Florida, a peaceful suburb just outside of Orlando.
01:06Behind me is the apartment complex where Stephen Shulhoff lived with his 16-year-old daughter
01:11Courtney.
01:13It's also where Stephen died, bludgeoned to death with an earshot of Courtney, who, depending
01:19upon who you believe, was either fearful for her own life or the manipulative mastermind
01:26behind her father's murder.
01:29Courtney was very bubbly, very cute, little tiny thing, and she was a good kid going through
01:35a bad time, doing the best she could.
01:39We spoke with a woman who got to know Courtney while renting a room from Courtney's father,
01:44Stephen.
01:45She agreed to talk with us on the condition we not show her face.
01:49It was probably about eight months that I lived there.
01:52I could see after a while that Courtney was having a hard time, and a lot of times I'd
01:57get up and she would still be in bed, you know, missing school.
02:01Courtney's parents got divorced.
02:02That had a profound impact on her.
02:06She was really upset with her parents.
02:09She had grown up in the house.
02:10She refused to leave the house.
02:12Her parents had sold the family home after their divorce, but she kept going back, breaking
02:18in and spending time there when she wasn't staying with her father.
02:22It was around that time that Courtney would meet a young man and forever alter the course
02:28of both of their lives.
02:31Courtney was a freshman here at Timber Creek High School when a mutual friend introduced
02:36her to Michael Moran.
02:38Michael was a senior at the time.
02:40He was really the big man on campus.
02:42He was the captain of the football team, very charismatic, very popular.
02:47The first time I met Mike, he came to see Courtney, I answered the door.
02:53He's a very tall guy, very good-looking kid, very well-spoken, yes or no sir, very courteous,
03:01didn't get any bad vibes off from him whatsoever.
03:05Even though Michael Moran's life may have seemed perfect to his high school friends,
03:10there was trouble under the surface.
03:13Michael's parents, too, had been through a nasty divorce, and a few years earlier,
03:18his mother had a stroke that left her on life support.
03:22So you have Michael and Courtney both in very intense emotional situations in their own
03:28lives.
03:30Michael feels strongly protective of Courtney, and that's the dynamic that really creates
03:36a very intense relationship between the two.
03:39The two soon became inseparable, clinging to each other for protection from the gathering
03:45storms in each of their personal lives.
03:49As their relationship became more intense, Michael left his house and began spending
03:54more and more time with Courtney at her old family home, where the two also began doing
04:01drugs.
04:02Courtney begins to max out her father's credit cards.
04:05She begins to write checks on her father's accounts.
04:09She and Michael start stealing things, and things finally come to a head when they steal
04:14a car.
04:16The car was owned by Michael's dad, Michael Moran Sr., who reported it stolen.
04:22The police arrested Michael, and he was charged with grand theft auto.
04:28That's a significant charge, of course, and he could have faced jail for that.
04:31Instead, though, he gets a suspended sentence, gets to check in with a parole officer, and
04:36gets a house arrest.
04:38And whose address does he give for the house arrest?
04:41Stephen Schulhoff's, Courtney's dad's.
04:44Meanwhile, Michael Moran Sr. and Stephen Schulhoff meet to discuss what to do about their children.
04:50They both agree Courtney is too young for Michael, and that they are a bad influence
04:56on each other.
04:57And so the two fathers decide that there's only one solution to this problem.
05:03They forbid Michael and Courtney from seeing each other again.
05:08Teenage angst, young love, Romeo and Juliet, and we've seen time and time again these incredibly
05:18dark outcomes.
05:22Steve's girlfriend was worried.
05:24It was 3 p.m., and she'd been calling his cell all day.
05:27So she drove over to his apartment to see if he was okay.
05:31When she got here, a man wearing one of Steve's pink polos and walking his dog caught sight
05:38of her and took off.
05:41Elaine recognized Michael and later told police she then saw Courtney in front of the apartment.
05:47And when she questioned Courtney about her dad's whereabouts, Courtney stated she did
05:52not know.
05:53Elaine attempted to open the apartment door, but it was locked.
05:58That's when she saw both Michael and Courtney flee from the area and later called 911.
06:04The officer that responds to this 911 call enters the apartment, starts looking around,
06:10and steps into the bedroom not expecting what he finds, this incredibly gory crime scene.
06:17He speaks with Elaine, and based on her account, it's clear who officers are looking for.
06:23And the manhunt begins for Courtney and Michael.
06:26After a short chase, Michael Morin was arrested inside the theater behind me near the mall
06:32where he and Courtney had spent hours together before the murder.
06:37Michael was brought here to the Altamont Springs Police Department where he was interviewed
06:41by detectives.
06:43He initially denied knowing why he had been arrested until investigators told him that
06:49if he didn't start talking, the question is, do you face a needle or do you face time?
06:57Michael then proceeded to tell police what he said had happened.
07:01He said it all began when Stephen found out Michael had been staying at the apartment.
07:06The two get into a huge altercation and Courtney gets kicked out of her home.
07:12She meets with Michael later that night at a park near their home, and she tells Michael
07:18that her father beat her up, that he grabbed her by the throat, slammed her head down on the tile floor.
07:48Michael says that the two went into the apartment around 2 in the morning.
08:01Once they got inside, Michael says Courtney handed him the bat, which he took, and walked
08:08into Stephen's bedroom.
08:10The next thing he remembers, he was looking at the mirror and staring at himself in the face.
08:17When he looked down, he saw the bat on the floor in a pool of blood.
08:36Michael says he remembers sitting down at a couch in the living room and Courtney bringing
08:41him a beer.
08:47He said that when he sat down on the couch and began sobbing, Courtney comforted him
08:52and said, what's wrong, baby?
08:55We can finally be together.
09:06The room was dark.
09:08So Michael flipped on the lights.
09:10What he saw made him so sick that he ran to the toilet and threw up.
09:22Meanwhile, police were already questioning Courtney.
09:26After she and Michael split up and fled the murder scene, Courtney made her way here to
09:30the Altamont Springs Police Department and turned herself in.
09:35But her story to the police differed drastically from Michael's.
09:39According to Courtney, her father had gotten angry after learning that Michael had been
09:44staying at the apartment.
09:46Courtney told police that, he grabbed me by the throat and threw me into the tile and
09:52started slapping me around, telling me that I was a slut.
09:58When Courtney told Michael what her father had done, she said he became enraged.
10:03She said, Mike was telling me that he had an idea, and asked her, do you have a baseball
10:09bat?
10:10She told him there was one in her dad's truck, but asked why.
10:15Courtney said she tried to stop Michael after he grabbed it and went inside.
10:20Courtney said, I told him don't do anything and leave him alone and to get out of the
10:26apartment.
10:27But he wouldn't leave.
10:30She said that after she returned from walking her dad's dog Chase, Michael was waiting for
10:35her on the porch.
10:37He's like, come here, I already solved the problem.
10:41And I said, what problem?
10:44And then he told me what he did.
10:46Michael said, if I called the police, he was going to kill me too.
10:51Based on their statements to police, Courtney and Michael were both arrested and charged
10:56with first degree murder.
10:59It was up to the jury now to decide who the real mastermind was behind Stephen's brutal
11:04killing.
11:06When we return, Courtney Shulloff goes on trial for helping her boyfriend Michael carry
11:12out the brutal murder of her father, Stephen.
11:19The trial of Courtney Shulloff for the murder of her father got underway here in late September
11:24of 2006.
11:26She was only 16.
11:28And if found guilty, would spend the rest of her life behind bars without the possibility
11:33of parole.
11:35The prosecutors in this case were Jim Carter and Jerry Jones.
11:39Now, these guys are well seasoned.
11:41They have a couple of decades of experience between them.
11:45For the prosecution, the facts of the case were simple.
11:49On February 10th, Michael Moran beat Stephen Shulloff with a baseball bat until he was
11:55dead.
11:56And he did this in a concerted effort with Courtney Shulloff.
12:03Michael Moran is the person who actually killed him.
12:06There's no question about that.
12:07But the evidence also can show you that Courtney participated.
12:11She encouraged.
12:13She did act in furtherance of getting this act done.
12:17Her actions were so inconsistent with innocence and just pointed, you know, to guilt all over
12:23the place.
12:24And as such, when the conclusion of the case, the state's going to ask you to find her guilty
12:29or first to be murdered.
12:32The real challenge for the prosecution is to show that Courtney was an active participant
12:37in planning and carrying out this murder because she's been telling the police that she had
12:41nothing to do with it.
12:42That Michael was the one that came up with and executed this plan.
12:48And remember, she is sitting at the defense table, a 16-year-old innocent looking girl.
12:53So they have to really convince the jury that this girl is capable of coming up with
12:59this devious plan and going through with it.
13:03The prosecution first called Elaine Bauk, Stephen Shulloff's girlfriend, to the stand.
13:09Will you please state your name for the record?
13:14Her testimony is crucial because she's the one that places both Courtney and Michael
13:18at the scene after this event.
13:21And she's the one that called 911.
13:24Elaine also becomes incredibly emotional even before she speaks on the witness stand.
13:30Elaine Bauk.
13:31OK.
13:32Yeah, but could you just have the lights touched, just...
13:37Is this the person you saw walking change?
13:41Yes.
13:42Wearing the pink shirt?
13:43Yes.
13:44OK.
13:45Did you see Courtney when you arrived?
13:46No.
13:47Not at first.
13:48OK.
13:49She walked up toward the apartment door and Courtney was walking toward me.
13:57And she took a couple of steps and she stopped at the top of the steps.
14:02And did you have any conversation with Courtney?
14:04Yes.
14:05OK.
14:06Can you tell us about that conversation?
14:07I didn't even say hi, I just said, where's your dad?
14:12And she said, I don't know.
14:16And I said, can I go look inside?
14:22And she said, yeah, sure.
14:23And she kind of stepped to the side and I walked past her.
14:27OK.
14:28Did you go inside?
14:30I walked up to the door, I opened the screen door and I went to open the door to the apartment
14:37and it was locked.
14:39OK.
14:40What did you do when you found it was locked?
14:42Well, I didn't have a key or anything.
14:44And so I turned around to go back and ask Courtney if she had a key so that I could
14:51get in.
14:52Were you able to ask Courtney?
14:53She was gone.
14:54But I really think her actions with Elaine, when Elaine showed up there, spoke volumes.
15:02You know, them mysteriously disappearing after saying, yeah, go in there and see for yourself,
15:07you know.
15:09She just disappeared.
15:11The next witness is Guy Gray.
15:12Now, he's the first responding officer from the Altamonte Springs Police Department and
15:16the first one to enter the apartment looking for Steven Shulhoff.
15:20We went towards the, I guess it's the north side of the residence, which there's two bedrooms
15:26located.
15:27And it's really through his eyes that the jury gets to see this incredibly brutal crime
15:33scene and see the sheer, sheer brutality of this crime.
15:37Are you still calling out Steve, Steve?
15:41Are you here?
15:42Yes.
15:43Then what?
15:44Entered into the second bedroom.
15:49And soon as I walked in the bedroom door to the right, I saw a set of feet sticking up
15:55with the toes in the air.
15:58The body was completely head first into the container, where all you saw were legs sticking
16:06out.
16:07Just to look at it, you didn't want to see the other half of the body.
16:10I mean, if Robert would do that, you know.
16:15The prosecution's next witness, a bloodstain pattern analyst, would only further highlight
16:20the brutal nature of the killing.
16:23Based on the pattern of blood that literally covered the wall of the bedroom where his
16:28body had been found, the expert was able to roughly determine the number of blows that
16:33had killed Steven Shulhoff.
16:36When we look at those, if we draw lines through those bloodstains backwards through the long
16:41axis of those bloodstains on the north wall there towards the headboard, we look at roughly
16:45three different areas where they converge, sort of in the middle of the headboard, slightly
16:49to the right, slightly to the left.
16:50So we're looking at roughly, I'd say approximately three blows.
16:54The next witness is Thomas Beaver, the chief medical examiner who performed Steven Shulhoff's
17:00autopsy.
17:01The injuries you observed on the victim, were they consistent with being caused by this item?
17:15Yes, sir.
17:17His testimony, too, reinforced the evidence that Steven was killed by a few powerful blows.
17:23You can see that the skull is fractured.
17:26There's a displaced skull fracture here, a displaced skull fracture here.
17:30This fragment of bone is detached and partially depressed into the brain.
17:36There's also fracture going back to the back of the skull and along the base of the skull.
17:43While the prosecution witnesses had shown the horrifying nature of Steven's death, none
17:48of their testimonies supported the state's theory that Courtney was in any way involved.
17:55When we return, the jury hears from witnesses the prosecution says show that Courtney was
18:01the driving force behind her father's murder.
18:05She asked me if the tape recorder was on, and I said no.
18:10And she said that there was more to it, that she wanted to tell me, but she didn't want
18:13to talk on tape.
18:19Shattered skull fragments and blood-spattered walls had allowed forensic experts to meticulously
18:24reconstruct Steven Shulhoff's brutal death, yet their testimony did little to implicate
18:31Courtney in her father's death.
18:34With the prosecution's next witness, however, that was about to change.
18:39Can you state your name for the record and spell your last name?
18:41Yes, Ivan Friedman.
18:43Ivan Friedman is a crucial witness because he claims he witnessed conversations between
18:48Courtney and Michael about killing Courtney's father.
18:52Can you tell us what Courtney said in reference to her father?
18:57She didn't like living with him.
18:59She couldn't get along with him.
19:02She was angry at him a lot.
19:04And that she just wasn't able to get along with him because she couldn't, wasn't able
19:10to see Michael.
19:11Did she ever describe that she hated her father?
19:14Yes.
19:15Did Michael ever make any statements in reference to her complaints concerning her father?
19:21Yes, he did.
19:22Okay.
19:23Can you tell us about what he said?
19:26About digging up a gun that he had buried behind his father's house.
19:30And what was he going to do with that gun?
19:32Did he say?
19:33At one time he said he was going to kill Courtney's father.
19:36What was Courtney's reaction to her boyfriend saying that he was going to kill her father?
19:43He did it two times.
19:45It was at the Suburban Lodge.
19:48She was basically just laying on the bed watching TV.
19:51Her response was a giggle, a laugh.
19:54No, don't do that.
19:55Nothing like that.
19:56It was just a giggle.
19:59But the testimony of Friedman would pale in comparison to the next two witnesses.
20:05The detectives who first interviewed Courtney.
20:09Detective Robert Fetty testified first.
20:12Did you come in contact with someone later known to you as Courtney Shumoff?
20:17I did.
20:18Did you talk to her on tape?
20:20I did.
20:21And did she know that the conversation was being tape recorded?
20:24Yes.
20:25It was during this recorded interview that Courtney told police that it had been Michael's
20:30idea to kill her father and that she tried to stop him.
20:34During the conversation with her, I realized that she had contact with one of the other
20:43detectives who happened to be there.
20:46At the conclusion of the initial interview, the initial tape interview, I turned her over
20:52to him.
20:53And who was that?
20:55Detective James Egan.
20:57Courtney's lawyers had fought long and hard to keep Detective Egan from giving the testimony
21:02he was about to give.
21:04But it was a battle that they had lost.
21:07Detective Egan is so crucial to the prosecution's case, not because of what happened during
21:11the tape-recorded interview, but because of what he says happened after he turned the
21:16tape recorder off.
21:19During the booking process, did something about the baseball bat come up?
21:23Yes, sir.
21:24And what was said about that?
21:26She said that her fingerprints may be on the baseball bat.
21:31And did you ask her about that?
21:33I asked her why.
21:35And she told me that her and her dad played either softball or baseball, I can't remember.
21:40But they played ball, and that she had used that bat on many occasions.
21:46Did she start telling you something about her participation and his death?
21:50Yes, she did.
21:51What did she tell you?
21:53She asked me if the tape recorder was on, and I said no.
21:58And she said that there was more to it, that she wanted to tell me, but she didn't want
22:01to talk on tape.
22:07What Courtney told Detective Egan when the recorder was off would much more closely match
22:12what Michael had confessed to the police.
22:15What she told me was that she participated in the murder by taking the bat and putting
22:23it by her father's doors.
22:25Who was going to do the actual killing of the father?
22:29From the way it was explained to me, Michael was.
22:33Instead of leaving, Courtney told police she listened from outside her father's door after
22:38Michael went in.
22:41And she was standing right by the window?
22:43That's what she told me.
22:46And what did she say she heard while she was standing there?
22:50She said that she could hear the bat hitting her father.
22:55And how did she describe the sound of the bat hitting her father?
22:58I don't remember the exact words, but she described like she made a noise like the bat
23:03was hitting her father, and she did it about three times.
23:06Did she indicate to you why she wanted to kill her father?
23:12From what I understood from her, Michael needed a place to stay, and her father did not approve
23:19of Michael at all.
23:21When we come back, the defense takes aim at the reliability of Courtney's alleged confession.
23:27The evidence does not show any effort by Detective Fetty to write down anything that
23:34my client said to me when she repeated what she had supposedly told Mr. Egan.
23:43Not one, no.
23:47Next week.
23:48We'll get you ready for the proceedings each day in the Black Swan murder trial.
23:52Plus, Friday, a voice for victims in the tragic case of Rachel Morin.
23:56Opening statements with Julie Grant, mornings at 8, 7 central on Court TV.
24:03The prosecution was relying heavily on Courtney's alleged confession to convict her for being
24:09an accomplice to her father's murder.
24:12But the defense wanted to use that same confession to set her free.
24:17Courtney Shuloff came in there and she was crying because her father had been killed
24:22by Mr. Morin.
24:26She was in there with her mother, who was in shock.
24:30These are not the actions of a guilty person.
24:34Courtney's defense attorneys, James Earl Figgett and Tim Cottle, were both very experienced
24:39defense attorneys in the Sanford area.
24:41Well, you said, well, Mr. Cottle, are you suggesting to us the two law enforcement officers
24:47came into this courtroom and told something that wasn't the truth?
24:53You got him to sign that.
24:54The defensive strategy here is to really focus the jury on the tape recorded part of
24:59Courtney's interview, where she denies any involvement in this killing or planning of
25:05the killing.
25:06It was a point they drove home by having Detective Fetty read from Courtney's original interview
25:11transcript.
25:12If you don't mind, sir, could you read what she said online on page 42, lines 15 through
25:1817?
25:19Well, I say, OK.
25:20And she said he was sitting there and he said, I have a plan.
25:23And I just asked him.
25:24I was like, what plan?
25:26He's like, to get rid of the problem.
25:29And I didn't understand what he meant about that, about the problem.
25:33Then he went into detail about it.
25:35And I was just saying, I was like, don't do it, don't, I swear, please don't do it.
25:42And then I told him, I was like, I'm going to call the cops, I'm going to call anybody
25:46if you do this.
25:47And he said, if you call the cops, then I'm going to kill you too.
25:53And after you spoke with her at 7 in the evening, what happened with her?
25:58Where did she go?
26:00That's when I put her with Detective Egan.
26:03He has his own separate office.
26:06He has another office in a different location across the hall or down the hall or something.
26:10Same bay, but in a different office.
26:14And when she was speaking with Detective Egan, was her mother also present?
26:19I don't think so.
26:21Now, how is it that you all got her mother out of the interview process?
26:25Well, you know, her daughter was in custody and we said, say goodbye.
26:33She's 16.
26:34She's a juvenile in a room with professional law enforcement officers.
26:38May not realize fully the implications of what she's saying.
26:44Only when her mother leaves and Courtney is questioned alone by Detective Egan, does she
26:49allegedly admit to helping murder her father.
26:52And no record of what she actually said exists.
26:55I had a second conversation with this 14 to 16 year old girl and she asked you not to
27:04turn the tape recorder on.
27:06That's correct.
27:07The defense really goes hard at Detective James Egan when it comes to his interrogation
27:11tactics of Courtney Schulhoff.
27:13Do a 16 year old girl control whether or not you took any actions to record for posterity
27:22a statement that she made to you when she was a suspect in the death of her father?
27:27Instead of taking her into a room where you could make absolutely sure that there would
27:32be a record that somebody would be able to actually watch?
27:35Yes, sir.
27:36I let her talk.
27:38I have nothing further.
27:40The defense also tried to downplay the significance of Ivan Friedman's testimony.
27:46I believe you mentioned that she never actually engaged him in conversation.
27:51She was lying on the bed watching television and he'd say something like that and she'd
27:55giggle.
27:56And that's all she ever said, isn't it?
27:59And even Mr. Moran, when he was speaking with you about digging this gun up, he said that
28:04jokingly.
28:05In fact, he said, I'm kidding.
28:08Yes.
28:09Okay.
28:10Okay.
28:14Every one of the young people that you had occasion to be associated with at Jeremy's
28:19at the Suburban Lodge, all had something negative to say about their parents, ma or pa.
28:26True or false?
28:27Not all.
28:28Okay.
28:29Most.
28:30Most of them did.
28:32Most do.
28:35It took the prosecution and defense just a single day to present their arguments in
28:39the trial of Courtney Shuloff, in their closing argument, the prosecution tried to portray
28:44Courtney as a cold-blooded killer who deserved to spend the rest of her life in prison.
28:51Ivan Freeman who has no interest in this case whatsoever came forward and told you her response
28:57in front of him was giggles. Giggles of approval. You know, somebody's telling you you're going
29:06to kill your dad and shoot him in the head and all you can do is giggle? Again, we're
29:12going to ask that you find the defendant guilty. Thank you.
29:17But where the prosecution saw evil in Courtney's laugh, the defense saw a teenage girl acting
29:22like any other girl her age.
29:26Her giggling is her sort of dismissively indicating, yeah, he's talking like that all the time.
29:36She didn't chime in. There was no plan in the summer and fall of 2003. The state reaches
29:43too far when they make a giggle into a conspiracy.
29:48When we return, the jury determines Courtney's fate and she addresses the judge in a surprising
29:53twist that just may spare her boyfriend, Michael Morin, from execution.
29:59It was a game changer for us because here we have Michael Morin's co-defendant, Courtney
30:04Shulhoff, who was confessing to the crime.
30:10Courtney Shulhoff was facing life in prison after being accused of manipulating her boyfriend,
30:16Michael Morin, into brutally murdering her father.
30:21After just a single day of testimony, during which her lawyers called no witnesses, Courtney's
30:27life was now in the hands of the jury.
30:31One day and this girl's fate hangs in the balance. That's extraordinary. I mean, the
30:38speed of this trial is absolutely extraordinary.
30:46The jury got the case the morning of the second day and it did not take long for them to come
30:51back with a verdict.
30:52Publish the verdict, please.
30:53Davis Morin v. Courtney, 16, Shulhoff. Verdict, we the jury find the defendant guilty of first-degree
31:06commensurate murder, subsequently of death for a fourth person.
31:10Somewhat surprisingly, Courtney did not react when the verdict was read. And after the judge
31:17asked her if she'd like to make a statement before sentencing, she huddled with her lawyers
31:21for what seemed like an eternity.
31:25And Courtney surprises everyone by directly addressing the judge.
31:29You can stop. You can stop.
31:34Your Honor, I would like to openly admit in court that Michael Morin is not the person
31:45who killed my father. I was.
31:51So I accept full responsibility and I accept the verdict.
31:57After Courtney's surprising, if improbable, admission to murder, Stephen Shulhoff's girlfriend,
32:03Elaine Bauk, took the stand with a message of her own.
32:07Elaine Bauk, I guess all I really want to say is that I just didn't want anybody to
32:16forget about Steve. He was one of the most wonderful people I've ever met. And he deserves
32:26to be remembered. I just thank you and just don't forget about Steve.
32:36All right, Mr. Shulhoff, in the judgment of this court, you will be sentenced to prison
32:47for your natural line without the possibility of parole.
32:56Courtney's courtroom confession caught the media's attention, with many speculating on
33:00the impact her surprise admission of guilt might have in helping Michael Morin escape
33:06death by lethal injection.
33:09Her statement post-verdict, what, if any, impact does it have on your pending case?
33:15Well, the only real impact it has presently is that I'm under ethical obligation to disclose
33:22it to Mr. Morin and his attorneys. And I've already done so by phone, as I will be doing
33:29it in writing. So there's a written record of it.
33:33At that point, when Courtney Shulhoff told the judge that she was solely responsible
33:38that Michael Morin had nothing to do with it, that was a game changer for us.
33:43Jeff Dowdy was Michael Morin's defense lawyer, and he had few illusions about his client's
33:48innocence.
33:50Michael Morin's fingerprints were on the baseball bat. The blood and some DNA evidence that
33:55was on his T-shirt came back as Stephen Shulhoff's. Michael Morin's footprints were around the
34:02body. Taking all of that into consideration, coupled with his confession, the evidence
34:08was very strong that Michael Morin committed this.
34:12But that's not what Courtney was now claiming. She wrote a letter to Michael's dad, telling
34:17him...
34:18I'm writing because I want to apologize for putting your son in this situation. He did
34:22not kill my dad. I did, but was scared when I got caught. I told the truth at my trial
34:29and plan to testify at his trial to declare his innocence.
34:33Her story did not make any sense, but we had a legal obligation. You know, Michael Morin,
34:39let's put her forward. He wanted us to put her on the stand, and we did.
34:43Michael Morin's trial for the murder of Stephen Shulhoff began here on April 24, 2007, where
34:50he faced death if convicted. Courtney Shulhoff was one of the first witnesses.
34:56She was dressed up as a petite child in her trial. She was in nice, conservative dresses
35:02on. When we did the Michael Morin's trial, Courtney's appearance changed 180 degrees.
35:10Besides, she was in her jail uniform, but she went what I guess would be characterized
35:16as gothic.
35:19She told the jury, everything I said the day I was arrested was a lie. I was the lone killer.
35:27She said she hated my father and that he had raped me. So while Michael Morin stood outside,
35:33she said she took an aluminum bat, snuck into her father's bedroom, and beat him to death.
35:40It was just a far-fetched story. I don't think the jury bought it at all. But again, we were
35:46facing a death penalty trial.
35:49But as the jury retired to consider Michael's fate, the defense was cautiously optimistic
35:54they could avoid the death penalty, maybe even get a second-degree murder conviction.
35:59We wanted to focus that she was the mastermind, she was the one that planned this, and he
36:04was going under her direction. So it wasn't first-degree premeditated murder. He was acting
36:12on her behalf.
36:13It was 50-50. In fact, Mr. Nielsen and myself, we felt pretty good, because after the debacle
36:18with Courtney, and we had argued all along that he was under dominance of her, and after
36:24her clown show, so to speak, after her performance, we felt now the jurors can understand what
36:31this guy was dealing with.
36:33Unfortunately for the defense, it was not to be.
36:36When the jury came back to deliver its verdict, the result was not that surprising. For Michael
36:42Warren, the trial really began with a sentencing phase. This was the effort to save his life.
36:49And one of the most important witnesses in that endeavor was his dad. He had to be humanized
36:56before the jury.
36:57His father was powerful testimony. His father testified how hard it was on Michael when
37:03his mom died. He was a changed person.
37:09In closing, the defense reminded the jury that Michael would never leave prison alive,
37:14and that while it ended in tragedy, Michael's initial intentions had been pure.
37:21We were allowed to argue, to tell the jurors that this is final. We're just asking you
37:25to spare his life, this young man's life, who came to fall in love with this young girl.
37:32But for this young girl, falling in love with her probably never would have happened.
37:38When we return, the jury determines Michael's fate and where Courtney is today.
37:44Once the door closed to the deliberation room, it would be five excruciating long hours before
37:51they returned with a decision.
37:59Courtney Schulhoff had testified in the murder trial of her former boyfriend, Michael Warren,
38:03in the hopes of saving him from the death penalty. Now, the jury had retired to determine
38:09if he should live or if he should die.
38:13We were extremely nervous about what the jurors were going to do based upon just the atrociousness
38:19of the crime. The horrific crime scene, complete blood everywhere, the skull bashed in. We
38:28knew that we had a lot going for us in mitigation because he was a young kid, relatively crime-free,
38:35you know, captain of the football team, loved his mom. We didn't know which way it was going
38:40to go. And the jurors were out quite some time.
38:44Once the door closed to the deliberation room, it would be five excruciating long hours before
38:50they returned with a decision.
38:52Michael Warren was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with
38:57no possibility of parole.
39:02Back then, it didn't have to be unanimous. It just had to be a majority. We were very
39:06relieved that it was life in prison.
39:09We reached out to Michael, who is currently serving his life sentence at the Mayo Correctional
39:14Institution in Lafayette County, Florida. While he declined to do an interview, he did
39:21say he appreciated the contact and told us,
39:24I've been locked up now for 20 years and will never go home. No matter how much I've changed
39:30or learned in those years, it will not change my life sentence. My friends and my brothers
39:36are all grown up and my dad is getting pretty old now. I'll be all alone soon in this place.
39:43So it's nice to hear from someone.
39:47Courtney Shulhoff was also sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
39:54There is actually a glimmer of hope for Courtney Shulhoff. The Supreme Court of the United
39:59States in 2012 decided that for juveniles like Courtney, life in prison without the
40:05possibility of parole is actually cruel and unusual punishment. And she was re-sentenced
40:11with a possibility of parole so she may, she may actually get out at some point.
40:17She's got 20 years in. She's going to probably be out with gain time and everything. She's
40:21going to be out in 15 years. She's going to be 50 years old. You know, it's not relatively
40:26not old by any means or, you know, not young, but still she's going to have a life after
40:30her. Michael Moore, even though he's only four years older, is never going to have that
40:34opportunity. He will die in prison.
40:37Just a horrible tragedy that didn't need to happen and ruined so many lives. I think Courtney
40:43and Mike would have been really good people if they hadn't met each other and gone down
40:49that wrong path.
40:51And while the tragic love story of Courtney Shulhoff and Michael Moran may capture the
40:56public's attention, it's also worth remembering the person whose life was cut cruelly short
41:01as a result.
41:02Yeah, I just prepared a little statement. Steve Shulhoff was a friend to everyone he
41:11met. He never stopped smiling. He would give you his right arm if you only asked him. He
41:16didn't deserve what happened to him. He loved Courtney and only wanted her to lead a happy
41:21and productive life. On behalf of all those he loves, Steve, justice was served and we
41:26thank God for that. We are better human beings because we have known Steve Shulhoff.
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