A jury has returned the verdict in the murder trial of an Osage teen. A Wright County jury spent about 17 hours over three days before finding 14-year-old Noah Crooks guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of his mother.
Crooks was charged with first-degree murder and assault with the intent to commit sexual abuse in the March 2012 killing of his 37-year-old mother Gretchen. The jury found him not guilty on the assault charge. Crooks was 13 at the time of the shooting, with defense attorneys using an insanity defense during the trial.
The trial was moved from Mitchell County to Wright County due to extensive pretrial publicity.
By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City