Emotional hearing on Crumbley's fate highlights horrors of his rampage
A hearing to help determine Ethan Crumbley's sentence for murdering four fellow students and injuring seven other people at Oxford High School in November 2021 resumes Tuesday in the Oakland County Courthouse.
The only issue to be decided from the hearing is whether Crumbley is eligible to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole — or whether he will be eligible for release one day.
Oakland County District Judge Kwame Rowe will decide Crumbley's fate after the hearing, which is mandated by a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Miller v. Alabama that juvenile murderers may not be automatically sentenced to life without parole without a hearing. The hearings, such as Crumbley's, are called Miller hearings.
Rowe is expected to issue a written ruling shortly after the hearing and will schedule formal sentencing after that.
Stories of trauma from survivors; Crumbley's disturbing writing
Testimony and evidence offered during the first two days of the hearing, Thursday and Friday, was emotional and often deeply disturbing.
The first public showing of video from Oxford High School as Crumbley killed four fellow students and wounded seven other people.
A video Crumbley made before the shooting in which he explained that he needed to show the school and his classmates a lesson. "There’s no voices in my head," he said in the video. "The voices are me ... that’s what people call the demons. There are no demons. I am the demon."
Another video in which he tortured and killed a baby bird and text messages in which he said he wanted to kill another bird and wanted to rape and kill a classmate.
Text messages and journal entries in which Crumbley said he needed help but his parents wouldn't get it for him.
Molly Darnell, the only teacher injured in the rampage, described locking eyes with Crumbley before he shot her in the left shoulder. Wounded, she barricaded herself and texted her husband: “I love you. Active shooter.”
Student survivors testified Friday, describing helping wounded classmates and, in one case, hiding in a bathroom with another student and witnessing Crumbley shoot to death Justin Shilling, his last victim.
Assistant Principal Kristy Gibson-Marshall, broke down in tears as she talked about how she tried to save Tate Myre’s life in the hallway. Blood "was all over me,” she testified. “It took me months to get the taste of blood out of my mouth.” She also described her disbelief in seeing that the shooter was Crumbley, whom she has known since he was in elementary school. “‘It couldn’t be Ethan. He wouldn’t do that,’“ she recalled thinking. He ignored her when she asked him if he was OK.
Psychiatrists testified for the defense Friday that Crumbley is not psychotic and could be rehabilitated if he chose to be.
Crumbley pleaded guilty to all charges against him. His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are jailed on involuntary manslaughter charges, the first parents in America charged in a school shooting. They bought him the gun used in the shooting on Nov. 21, 2021, as an early Christmas present. Their appeal to have the charges against them struck down is pending before the Michigan Supreme Court.
The students killed in Ethan Crumbley's rampage were Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17.
Support for the community
The Oxford Resiliency Center, a program of Common Ground, has extended its hours through Tuesday to provide support for the community because of the traumatic nature of the hearing. The center has added support staff and has therapy dogs on-site. The center, open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., is at 1370 S. Lapeer Road in Oxford. The phone number is 248-653-5511. More information: www.allforoxford.org
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hearing on Ethan Crumbley's fate resumes Tuesday in Oxford shooting
