The Oxford High School shooter has asked the Michigan Supreme Court to order a new hearing before a judge to reduce his sentence of life with no chance of parole.
The shooter’s new legal team says his previous counsel failed to take crucial steps to protect his interests before the then-16-year-old pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder, terrorism, assault, and firearm violations. Four students were killed and seven people were injured in the mass shooting.
The shooter’s new lawyers from the State Appellate Defender Office (SADO) argue that at a minimum a new judge should hear expert testimony on fetal alcohol syndrome, a troubled home life and other mitigating factors before imposing a new sentence.
“Though his offense is heinous, how our courts treat even those who have committed the most heinous crimes matters deeply,” said the brief arguing for the Supreme Court to hear Ethan Crumbley’s case. “The tragic nature of Ethan’s crime cannot give courts an excuse to overlook errors that occurred in his legal proceedings. The circuit court did more than overlook these errors. It blithely and repeatedly found that nothing could or would make a difference in the sentence imposed – death in prison, for someone 15 years old at the time of their offense.”
SADO attorney Jacqueline Ouvry said this appeal is not about relitigating the convictions, but requiring the court to consider “mitigating factors” that should have been part of the sentencing decision. Ouvry said that would align with court precedents that require unique considerations for younger defendants, even those charged as adults with violent offenses.
“They involve chronological age, which includes brain development,” she told Michigan Public Radio. “They involve the family and home environment a child grew up in, and the possibility of rehabilitation.”
“Ethan was 15 when he committed his offense,” she said. “He was very much a youth at the time.”
Ouvry said the case is also relevant because there are other defendants convicted as teens or young adults in state custody who are entitled to new sentences under court rulings.
“It matters how we sentence those who have done even the most heinous crimes and there are several hundred people in Michigan who because of recent court decisions will be resentenced for heinous crimes,” she said.
The Michigan Court of Appeals declined to reconsider the sentence in May, and a spokesperson for Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald’s office said the Supreme Court should let that be the final word.
“The facts are undisputed: On November 30, 2021, the shooter murdered Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana, and Justin Shilling, wounded seven others, and terrorized an entire community,” said Public Information Officer Jeff Wattrick in an email to Michigan Public Radio. “We are confident the Supreme Court will concur with the lower courts and uphold his sentence.”
The shooter’s parents are serving prison terms for manslaughter convictions. They were charged with failing to act on signs their son’s mental condition was deteriorating and for failing to secure the semi-automatic firearm used in the shootings.
The Michigan Supreme Court refused to dismiss the charges in a 2023 decision that was the first time that allowed for parents to be held criminally liable for a school shooter’s actions.
