What's New
A Michigan judge on Thursday denied motions filed by Ethan Crumbley's legal team to withdraw his guilty pleas and be resentenced for the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School.
Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwame Rowe found that Crumbley's original plea was entered "knowingly, voluntarily, and accurately" and there was no error in the plea-taking process.
Why It Matters
Crumbley was attempting to change his plea after pleading guilty to terrorism causing death, four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted murder and 12 weapons offenses in 2022. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The charges stemmed from a shooting that killed four people and injured seven others at Oxford High School in November 2021.
What To Know
Crumbley's legal team filed the motions for withdrawing the guilty pleas and resentencing in June. In the documents, attorney Jacqueline Ouvry said Crumbley's cognitive-adaptive dysfunctions were not adequately mentioned during the plea and sentencing process.
"Ethan was 16 years old, laboring with cognitive-adaptive dysfunction, and suffering from mental illness when he was tasked with evaluating whether to waive his trial rights and enter a plea," Ouvry wrote.
She suggested that Crumbley may have developed this condition from alcohol exposure in the womb.
Rowe said Crumbley has never been tested for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder. He also said evidence of this condition would not have impacted the outcome of the case.
Rowe's ruling echoed the prosecution's response to the defense's motions. Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Shada said new evidence "would not have made a difference in the proportionality of his sentence or the outcome of sentencing."
What People Are Saying
Rowe, in his ruling: "Trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to advise Defendant of a diminished capacity defense that was not a cognizable defense under the law or supported by the facts."
Ouvry, in a motion to withdraw guilty pleas: "Ethan should have been advised of possible defenses at trial before he made the solemn decision to move from presumed innocent to convicted. This advice should have included information about his own history, mental illness, cognitive and adaptive impairments that related to his perception and the formation of the intent involved in his crimes."
Shada, in response to the defense's motions: "In the range of defenses to pick from — including the one defendant attempts to assert now postjudgement — none of them escape the fact that this offender and his offenses are deserving of a life sentence."
What Happens Next
Crumbley is serving his life sentence at the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee, Michigan.
His parents, Jennifer Crumbley and James Crumbley, were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in relation to the shooting. Jennifer is serving her sentence in the Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility and James is serving his sentence in the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility.
The parents were the first to be convicted in the U.S. in relation to a mass shooting by a child.
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