Day one of deliberations end in Richard Tuite retrial

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A transient who was going door-to-door looking for a female friend in rural Escondido wandered into the home of a 12-year-old girl in 1998 and stabbed her to death, a prosecutor said today, but a defense attorney said there was reasonable doubt and pointed the finger at the victim's brother and two teenage friends.

Jurors began deliberations this afternoon in the retrial of Richard Tuite, who was previously found guilty in 2004 of voluntary manslaughter in the Jan. 20, 1998, death of Stephanie Crowe. A federal appeals court reversed the conviction in 2011, saying Tuite didn't get a fair trial because a judge limited cross-examination of a prosecution witness.