Noah Crooks was a thirteen year old living in Iowa when he would murder his mother Gretchen Crooks
According to court documents Noah Crooks and his mother Gretchen would get into an argument when Noah refused to grab her a soda.
Noah would grab a gun and fatally shoot his mother. Noah would send his father a text saying he accidentally killed his mother.
Noah Crooks would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to fifty years in prison
Noah Crooks Current Information
Name:
Noah Riley Crooks
Offender Number:
6049684
Sex:
M
Age:
27
Location:
North Central Correctional Facility
Offense:
MURDER – 2ND DEGREE, 85%
TDD/SDD *:
12/16/2034
Commitment Date:
05/09/2016
Recall Date:
05/07/2026
Noah Crooks Case
Jurors found an Osage, Iowa teen guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his mother.
Noah Crooks, was charged in March 2012 with first-degree murder for the shooting death of his 37-year-old mother, Gretchen. Noah was 13 at the time of the shooting.
Noah’s father, William Crooks, reportedly testified during the trial that he initially thought it was a joke when he received a text message from his son, asking Crooks to come home because Noah had accidentally killed his mother
Gretchen was shot 20 times with a .22 caliber hunting rifle. During a 911 call after the shooting, Noah allegedly told an emergency dispatcher that he had tried to sexually assault his mother.
Noah’s attorneys argued an insanity defense on his behalf at trial, saying he suffered from Intermittent Explosive Disorder, which is characterized by sudden violent outbursts.
The case went to the jury Wednesday, May 8, 2013.
In a verdict delivered Monday afternoon, May 13, the Mason City Globe Gazette reports the jury found Noah, now 14, guilty of second-degree murder. He was found not guilty of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.
Iowa teen found guilty of shooting and killing his mother | wqad.com
Noah Crooks News
The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld the prison sentence for an Osage teen who shot and killed his mother in 2012.
19-year-old Noah Crooks was convicted of murder in the second degree in 2012—when he was 13 years old.
On March 24, 2012, Crooks was at home in Osage with his mother Gretchen, a nurse at Mercy Hospital in Mason City. Crooks took a loaded rifle downstairs intending to kill his mother, before returning upstairs because Crooks reportedly did not want to shoot her in the back. After returning downstairs, Noah shot her 22 times, killing her.
In May 2013, a jury found Crooks guilty of murder in the second degree and not guilty of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse. Under Iowa’s Youthful Offender Status, Crooks was transferred to the juvenile courts system until he turned 18.
Crooks spent time at Eldora’s State Training School, and a juvenile court officer reported in April 2016 that Crooks “tried to avoid addressing why he killed his mother”.
In May 2016, Crooks’ attorney told the court that any confinement or probation could not exceed 5 years, while the prosecution argued for a 50 year prison sentence. A district court heard victim impact statements from Crooks’ family, and the court determined that “probation was not justified”. Crooks was sentenced to a 50-year prison sentence without a mandatory minimum.
On appeal, Cooks’ attorneys argued that the court “abused its discretion by incarcerating him”.
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that the youthful offender status is meant “to see whether the rehabilitative services provided in the juvenile system have been effective” before proceeding.
Two medical experts, Dr. Taylor and Dr. Augspurger, both wrote evaluations of Crooks that are cited in the ruling.
“With a strong degree of medical certainty, I can state that the prospects for rehabilitating Noah Crooks prior to his eighteenth birthday are nil,” Dr. Taylor wrote in 2012.
Dr. Augspurger wrote the following in 2016: “…it cannot still be said that [Crooks] is developing an Antisocial Personality Disorder since he has not outwardly displayed evidence required to substantiate such a diagnostic development since admission”.
The Supreme Court concluded that the district court acted within its discretion by imposing the 50-year sentence.
50-year prison sentence upheld for teen who killed mother | weareiowa.com
