Ethan Crumbley 'has the potential to change' and is not psychotic, experts testify

Confessed school shooter Ethan Crumbley’s jail psychiatrist has not diagnosed him with being psychotic while another expert says he is capable of being rehabilitated — but it’s up to him, according to testimony at a crucial hearing Friday to determine his fate.

"Everybody has the potential to change, and Mr. Crumbley is no exception to that rule," said Dr. Kenneth Romanowski, a corrections expert who has spent decades working with juvenile lifers.

Romanowski was the first witness to testify on behalf of the defense at a hearing Friday to determine whether Crumbley should get life without the possibility of parole, or a chance to earn his freedom through rehabilitation. The prosecution, which presented multiple witnesses over the last two days, wants life without parole for the teenager, who at age 15 murdered four students and injured six others and a teacher.

Young offenders' 'minds are still subject to change'

The defense hopes to persuade Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwame Rowe not to let Crumbley die in prison.

Romanowski, who has worked in numerous prisons with violent criminals convicted of horrific crimes, testified that young offenders have a better chance for rehabilitation than others because "their minds are still subject to change." And even the hardest of criminals are not impossible to rehabilitate, he said, noting he has met criminals who have not changed — but that's because they didn't want to.

More: School shooting video and Ethan Crumbley's own words — 'I am the demon' — shock courtroom

On cross examination, the prosecutor pressed Romanowski to explain if he knew the details of Crumbley's crimes — that he had shot two students execution style in the back of the head and that he had an obsession with torturing birds and animals, and killing kids.

Romanowski said he was not aware of those details, and did not hear the testimony of prior witnesses.

"I know it's horrific," he said, noting he had heard some gruesome details in the news.

The prosecutor also asked him if he had ever advocated for the release of a mass killer.

Romanowski said not for someone who has killed four people or more, though he still maintained that everyone is capable of turning their life around.

"I find those facts to be horribly disturbing," Romanowski said of the Oxford shooting. "But do I think he still has the possibility to change? Yes."

Diagnosis: Major depressive disorder, adjustment disorder with anxiety

Next on the witness stand was Dr. Fariha Qadir, the psychiatrist who has been treating Crumbley in jail since the 2021 mass shooting at Oxford High School. She first met with Crumbley on Dec. 3, 2021, just days after the shooting, and testified that his condition is treatable with medicine and therapy.

Qadir, who sees Crumbley once a week through online appointments, testified that she has diagnosed Crumbley with major depressive disorder and adjustment disorder with anxiety. She described adjustment disorder as a condition involving a response to a stressor, like a loss in life. She said Crumbley is on an antidepressant, a mood stabilizer and a medication that treats anxiety and helps him sleep.

Qadir said she has asked Crumbley about hallucinations, which he had experienced according to text messages he sent his mom and a friend. Here’s what he told her:

“He talked about having two types of voices,” Qadir testified. “He called one internal, and one external.” The external voices, she explained, were “very fleeting voices that come and go. It’s a voice that does not interfere much in his daily life,” she said.

More: Oxford teacher shot by Crumbley testifies: 'Do you know how hard it is to heal from this?'

The other voices, she said, “he called his internal thoughts.”

“He said they are more significant and, ‘I can’t get rid of them,’“ Qadir testified, adding Crumbley told her the thoughts had gotten worse two weeks before the shooting.

She said she has been seeing him once a week over the last year and a half and that he has been cooperative, though she conceded she does not know how he killed his victims, nor is she aware of his writings in his journal.

On cross examination from a prosecutor, Qadir noted she is not a forensic psychiatrist — who would diagnose and treat mental disorders in the context of the criminal justice system — and is treating Crumbley only for mental health symptoms he is experiencing in jail.

Dr. Daniel Keating, a University of Michigan psychiatry professor and expert in adolescent brain development, also took the stand Friday. He testified as to how adolescent brains function differently than adult brains, including when it comes to decision making. He said he believes it’s impossible to scientifically predict whether a youth who committed a serious violent offense is irreparably corrupt, which is a key factor the judge will consider in reaching a decision on life without parole.

Crumbley is in the same jail as his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, who bought the gun that he used in the shooting and have also been charged in the case. They are facing involuntary manslaughter charges for allegedly ignoring their son's mental health needs and buying him the gun instead. They maintain their son is the only one responsible for the students' deaths. Their appeal to have the charges struck down is pending before the Michigan Supreme Court.

Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ethan Crumbley not psychotic 'has potential to change,' experts say