School shooter who killed 4 at age 15 told he could spend rest of life in jail
A "sick" teenager who slaughtered four and injured seven others at a Michigan high school in 2021 was just unofficially handed a life sentence without the possibility of parole by a federal judge on Friday.
During a hearing held via video conference, Oakland County Judge Kwame Rowe announced that Ethan Crumbley could, in fact, be tried as an adult for first-degree murder. The unofficial verdict comes after he slaughtered four students and wounded six others as well as a teacher on November 30, 2021, in what has become known as the Oxford High School shooting.
First-degree murder, which generally carries an automatic life sentence in Michigan without the chance for parole. But as Crumbley was just 15 when he committed the heinous crime, Judge Rowe considered leniency for the now-17-year-old.
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Victims and their families who were impacted by the Oxford High School shooting shared testimony about the horrific event (AP)Essentially, that means he could have the chance for freedom decades down the road, but only after going through extensive mental rehabilitation during his time in the slammer. But the judge seemed to lean away from providing the teen with such leniency.
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Many witnesses and psychological experts presented to the court in the days and weeks leading up to Friday's hearing. Some of the testimony described the horrific day on November 30, 2021, in explicit detail.
Several others will come forward to speak about the impact the shooting had on their lives between Friday and December 8, the day the Oakland County court will officially hand Crumbley his sentence. Friday's hearing was an informal sentencing and dictate the likely outcome of the actual hearing. Just because Crumbley can be tried as an adult doesn't mean that he will be.
Judge Kwame Rowe made his unofficial ruling on Friday, September 29 (AP)On that tragic day, Crumbley claimed the lives of students Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling at Oxford High School, which is located about 40 miles (60km) north of Detroit. Six students and a teacher were also wounded in the assault.
He pleaded guilty to murder, terrorism and other crimes, and the ensuing investigation revealed that he kept a journal, where he detailed his desires to harm other students and also spoke about his prediction that he'd spend the rest of his life in prison.
The day before the shooting, he recorded a video that outlined his plan, apologising to the families of his victims ahead of time. On November 30, he and his parents walked into the school to meet with an administrator, who rose concerns about some violent drawings that had been discovered.
No one checked his backpack for a gun at the time, and once the meeting wrapped up and his parents had left, he opened fire. James and Jennifer Crumbley were later charged with involuntary manslaughter for making a gun accessible to their troubled son and ignoring his evident mental health concerns.
Testimony from both Ethan himself and others over the course of the investigation and the trial indicated that his parents had severely neglected him, turning him into a "feral child" with a sick brain, according to psychologists Colin King and his defense attorney, Paulette Michel Loftin.
Loftin argued during the trial that her client deserved the opportunity for parole due to his age and the belief that he would be able to heal and overcome his mental struggles through counseling and rehabilitation during his stay in prison.
Dr Lisa Anacker, however, another psychiatrist who evaluated Crumbley at a state psychiatric hospital, stipulated that he was not mentally ill at the time of the shooting, based on strict Michigan law standards surrounding mental health.
Prosecutor Karen McDonald painted Crumbley as a monster who, even if he changed his ways, would always be a threat to society. She advocated for his sentence to be handed ot him without the possibility of parole.
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"Even if the defendant changes, and he finds some peace and some meaning in his life beyond torturing and killing, does not mean that he ever gets the right to live free among us," she said on August 18.
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