Teen who killed 4 people in Michigan high school shooting appeals life sentence

A teenager convicted of fatally shooting four students at his Michigan high school is appealing his life sentence, his lawyers announced Friday.

Officials with the state appellate defender's office said in a statement that they had filed a request to have Ethan Crumbley resentenced.

Crumbley, now 18, pleaded guilty to 24 counts, including one count of terrorism and four counts of first-degree murder, and was sentenced in December to life without parole. He was 15 years old at the time of the shooting.

His lawyers said new evidence shows seven witnesses could have testified about Ethan's difficult childhood, his mother's alcohol abuse while pregnant and the potential impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder about Ethan, including how it might have stunted his maturation.

They said the evidence also raised questions about whether Ethan knew what he was doing when he pleaded guilty to the 2021 Oxford High School shooting, and emphasized that children can change.

“A sentence of life without parole for a child is unconscionable,” the office said.

The Oakland County District Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the appeal Friday.

Judge Kwame Rowe said during sentencing that the shooting was well planned and Crumbley had plenty of time to stop as he walked through the school. The judge said he was particularly troubled by how one victim was shot multiple times and another was forced to watch as a student was shot at point-blank range.

The teen's parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year after prosecutors accused them of giving Ethan access to a gun, ignoring his mental health issues and refusing to take him home when confronted with his violent drawings at school that day. of the attack.

They were the first American parents to be convicted of a mass school shooting committed by their child.