Courtney Schulhoff

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Courtney Christine Schulhoff (born December 27, 1987 in Washington, DC ) is an American woman. She was sentenced to life imprisonment with no early release on September 27, 2006 in Sanford, Florida, as a minor for incitement to and accessory to murder .

incident

On the night of February 9-10, 2004, Schulhoff's 21-year-old friend Michael Morin killed her sleeping father Stephen Schulhoff with a baseball bat. It can be considered certain that Schulhoff was walking the dog in the immediate vicinity of the apartment at this time. What happened immediately before and after was presented very differently by Schulhoff and Morin. There were no external witnesses to the events. The conviction for inciting and aiding and abetting murder was essentially based on an alleged, unrecorded confession that Schulhoff allegedly made shortly after her arrest. This was preceded by her mother's affair with another man and her separation from her father. Finally, she was abused several times by her father.

murder

On the evening of February 9, Schulhoff and Morin went to a cinema and then went to the apartment in which Schulhoff lived with their father late in the evening. There are two versions of the following events:

  • According to Morin's version, Schulhoff had urged him to kill her hated father. She also provided him with the murder weapon, a baseball bat . The final trigger for her desire to be killed was an argument the day before, during which her father beat her. In a “ blackout ” he then complied with her request and immediately regretted it bitterly.
  • According to Schulhoff's version, Morin himself was the author of the murder. You still, supposedly successful, tried to talk him out of the act. When she returned from her walk with the dog, however, he had presented her with a fait accompli and threatened her with violence if she called on the police.

At noon on February 10th, Schulhoff's father's partner appeared at his apartment. During the morning she had tried in vain to reach him by phone and, out of uncertainty, decided to drive to his apartment. When no one opened the door, she notified the police. This broke into the apartment and found Stephen Schulhoff murdered in the bedroom.

European media attention 2009

In 2008 the German journalist Stefan Scheytt visited her in preparation of an article about the practice of the USA to impose “life without parole” judgments against minors. The article appeared from January 2009 in slightly varying versions in Focus , the Badische Zeitung , the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , the Annabelle , the Tagesspiegel and the magazines Provo ( Publik Forum ), Socialpaedagogen (Denmark) and Amagasinet (Norway).

Penalty reduction

In March 2017, their sentence was reduced to 40 years after the Supreme Court had ruled that it was unconstitutional to sentence minors to life imprisonment without the option of early release.

Web links

Information on Schulhoff's case
Reports in US media 2004–2007
European reports from 2009
Courtney Schulhoff on German television

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Altamonte Springs teenage murderer resentenced to 40 years.
personal data
SURNAME Schulhoff, Courtney
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schulhoff, Courtney Christine (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American murderess
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, DC