A teenager who killed four students at Oxford High School in Michigan is eligible for life in prison with no chance for parole, a judge has ruled.
Judge Kwame Rowe announced the decision over video conference, weeks after hearing from experts who clashed over Ethan Crumbley’s mental health and witnesses who described the tragic day in 2021 in sharp detail.
Judge Rowe said prosecutors had overcome a presumption that life in prison would be unfair to a minor. Crumbley heard the decision with his lawyers while sitting in a room in the county jail.
The 17-year-old will be formally sentenced in Oakland County court on December 8, a day when survivors and families can tell the judge about how the shooting affected their lives.
First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence for adults in Michigan but Crumbley was 15 at the time, which gives the judge options of sentencing him to life in prison or a shorter term — somewhere from 25 years to 40 years at a minimum — and an eventual opportunity for freedom.
“This crime is not the result of impetuosity or recklessness,” Rowe said. “Nor does the crime reflect the hallmarks of youth. Defendant carefully and meticulously planned and carried out the shooting.”
“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,” prosecutor Karen McDonald said while arguing for a life sentence on August 18.
Crumbley pleaded guilty to murder, terrorism and other crimes. The teenager and his parents met school staff on the day of the shooting after a teacher noticed violent drawings but no one checked his backpack for a gun and he was allowed to stay.
His lawyers argued that he was in a devastating spiral by autumn 2021 after being deeply neglected by his parents, who bought a gun and took him to a shooting range to try it. A psychologist, Colin King, described him as a “feral child”.
Defence attorney Paulette Michel Loftin said Crumbley deserved an opportunity for parole some day after his “sick brain” is fixed through counselling and rehabilitation.
Dr Lisa Anacker, a psychiatrist who evaluated Crumbley at a state psychiatric hospital, said he was not mentally ill at the time of the shooting, at least under strict standards in Michigan law.
There is no dispute that he kept a journal and wrote about his desire to watch students suffer and the likelihood that he would spend his life in prison. He made a video with his phone on the eve of the shooting, declaring what he would do the next day.
“I’m sorry the families have to go through this,” he said.
He killed Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St Juliana and Justin Shilling at Oxford High, about 40 miles north of Detroit. Six students and a teacher were also wounded.
Crumbley’s defence team walked from the jail minutes after the hearing ended but declined to comment.
In the adult wing of the jail, segregated from their son, James and Jennifer Crumbley are charged with involuntary manslaughter. They are accused of making a gun accessible at home and ignoring their son’s mental health.
