Oxford school shooter Ethan Crumbley can be sentenced to life without parole for killing 4 students

WARNING: GRAPHIC

Ethan Crumbley, the Michigan teenager who shot four of his high school peers to death and injured seven others in 2021, can be sentenced to life without parole, Judge Kwame Rowe ruled Thursday.

Crumbley, at age 15, walked into Oxford High School the morning of Nov. 30, 2021, went to morning classes, met with the school counselor with his parents and was sent back to class before he took a gun out of his backpack and killed 16-year-old Tate Myre, 16-year-old Justin Shilling, 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana and 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin.

He pleaded guilty in October 2022 to 24 counts, including four counts of first-degree murder. Oakland County prosecutors argued during a Miller hearing that began on July 27 to determine whether the now-17-year-old can be sentenced to life in prison without parole — a consequence typically reserved for adult offenders.

"It should be rare," Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said of life sentences without parole for juveniles in her closing statements in July, "and that's why we, as prosecutors, have a duty to use our discretion and follow the law, and that's what we've done here today."

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A sentencing hearing for Crumbley will take place on Dec. 8.

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"I commend the teachers and students who testified about what happened at Oxford High School that day, and I hope the result today brings the victims, their families, and the Oxford community some comfort," McDonald said in a Friday statement.

McDonald previously indicated it was the nation's first case in which a defendant has been charged with and convicted of terrorism resulting from a mass shooting — a crime punishable by life without parole.

One factor courts must take into consideration during Miller hearings is juvenile brain development. Because their brains are not fully matured, adolescents do not fully understand the risks and consequences of their actions.

"I argue that the evidence shows that [Crumbley's] actions reflect the opposite of these hallmark features," McDonald said in July. "There was extensive planning, and … we hear that he put toilet paper in his ears to protect his hearing before the shooting. He researched and knew what kind of weapon he needed, and the one his parents already had for him, was not going to do the job, so he advocated for a higher-power firearm with more deadly bullets. He practices. He went to the shooting range."

Crumbley's defense attorney, meanwhile, argued that Crumbley has showed signs of severe mental illness years prior to the shooting, and neither his parents nor school officials did anything to help him. They also argued that he has the potential to be rehabilitated. 

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"Ethan's sick brain can be repaired," attorney Paulette Loftin said during the Miller hearing in July, citing mental health experts who were called to testify during the Miller hearing.

In her opening statements on July 27, McDonald noted that video footage shows Crumbley walking up to the victims and shooting them "at point-blank range" in the middle of the school's hallways.

Crumbley expressed the desire to be "famous" in notes discovered by investigators, according to a witness who testified Thursday. He also said he did not plan on committing suicide-by-cop "because he wanted to witness the suffering he created," McDonald said.

In a voice recording played aloud in court on July 27, Crumbley called himself a "demon" and said he would understand if he were sent to prison for his crimes. He prattled on about his belief that school, college, work and life in general are meaningless. 

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"I wish to hear the screams of the children as I shoot them," Crumbley wrote in one journal entry. He also expressed the desire to drown children and throw children "off a cliff."

Crumbley's parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter after allegedly purchasing a firearm for their son. Jennifer Crumbley said in a social media post that the gun was a Christmas present for their son.

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"This defendant has already pled guilty to killing the four victims who died, shooting seven other victims with the intent to kill them, and terrorizing everyone else who was at Oxford High School that day. He's the only one who pulled the trigger," McDonald said.

She continued, "The parents are charged with involuntary manslaughter. Their gross negligence in buying their obviously troubled son a gun, for not securing it safely, and then for not doing anything about it when they saw the defendants' drawings on the day of the shooting. They are not charged for being bad parents."

Ethan Crumbley's notes apparently revealed that he planned to plead guilty to life in prison, according to a witness who testified in court on July 27.

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"I'm going to spend the rest of my life in prison rotting like a tomato," he wrote in a journal entry.

"The first victim has to be a pretty girl so she can suffer just like" Crumbley, he wrote in another entry.

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The county prosecutor revealed in December 2021 that the school officials met with Crumbley and his parents to discuss violent drawings he created just hours before his deadly rampage. The suspect was able to convince them during the meeting that the concerning drawings were for a "video game." His parents allegedly "flatly refused" to take their son home, McDonald said at the time.

Shortly after his parents left, Ethan shot up the school.

Crumbley's attorneys argued in their opening statements on July 27 that Crumbley is not incapable of changing his behavior as he grows into adulthood.

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Loftin told the court that it will become clear "that 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley is not one of those rare juveniles that is irreparably corrupt and without the ability to be rehabilitated."

The sentencing hearing concluded on Tuesday with testimony from psychologist Colin King, who argued based on his evaluations of Crumbley that the teenager suffers from manic depression and psychosis. He described Crumbley as a "feral child" who was abandoned by his parents at a critical stage of his life. King also argued that Crumbley had potential to be rehabilitated.