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My Life of Crime with Erin Moriarty

“The Case Against Michael Politte” (an exclusive 48 Hours preview)

My Life of Crime with Erin Moriarty

CBS News

Tv & Film, True Crime

4.41.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 November 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Michael Politte was 14 years old when he was charged with murdering his own mother, Rita Politte, and spent over 20 years in prison. But new evidence has put his conviction into question. Erin Moriarty sits down with Michael Politte in this preview of a brand new 48 Hours episode, “The Case Against Michael Politte”, premiering Saturday, November 26th on CBS.

Transcript

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0:00.0

I love my kid, but is a new comedy parenting podcast from Wendry that shares a refreshingly

0:05.3

honest and insightful take on parenting. Each week, the host will share a parenting story that

0:10.0

will have you laughing and thinking, yes, I have absolutely been there. Listen to, I love my

0:15.9

kid, but on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to the 48 hours podcast

0:23.9

for shocking murder cases and compelling real-life dramas from one of television's most watched

0:31.8

true crime shows. Go behind the scenes of each episode with award-winning CBS news correspondents

0:39.4

and producers in post-mortem, a weekly deep dive. Listen to 48 hours, wherever you get your podcasts.

0:49.3

It's Aaron here. For this week, instead of a full episode, I'd like to share with you an

0:55.6

exclusive preview of a brand new 48 hours investigation that I've been working on. It's called the case

1:02.4

against Michael Pollite, and it will premiere this Saturday evening at 10 p.m. Eastern Nine Central

1:09.5

on CBS. Hope I see you there. Tell me about December 4th, 1998. Do you remember that evening?

1:22.7

On December 5th, 1998, 40-year-old Rita Pollite was murdered. She was attacked inside her own home

1:31.2

in rural Missouri. Her body set on fire. There were two other people in the home that night, a 15-year-old

1:38.5

neighbor, Josh Sansase, and Rita's 14-year-old son, Michael Pollite. This is Michael.

1:46.0

What happened? What's the next thing you remember after you went to bed?

1:49.0

The next thing I remember, I woke up and I see a light haze in my room, and I leaned over Josh,

1:56.5

you know, I asked him, he said, man, are you smoking a cigarette? And he said, no.

2:01.6

And I threw blankets off of me, and I went to my door and I opened my door, and it was like a wall

2:07.4

of white smoke. What went to your mind? My house is on fire. So, you know what's this?

2:15.3

What are you feeling at that moment? Panic. Panic.

2:20.1

I'm Aaron Moriarty, 48 hours, and this is my life of crime. The full story of what happened

2:27.8

in that early morning, even after 24 years, is a mystery. But one thing is certain,

...

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