Teenager who killed classmates appeals life sentence (lawyers)

Lina Portman4 weeks ago

0 4 minutes read

Ethan Crumbley sits in court, Thursday, July 27, 2023, in Pontiac, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Lawyers for Ethan Crumbley, the Michigan teenager who killed four classmates, are appealing his life sentence without parole, arguing he should be given a chance at rehabilitation since he was 15 when he committed the “horrible and reprehensible act,” they announced Friday.

The Michigan State Appellate Defender's Office, which represented him, filed a motion asking the trial court to consider new evidence and grant a resentencing and plea review, the office said in a press release. The new evidence includes witnesses who may have spoken about her childhood struggles, her mother's alcohol abuse during pregnancy and the possible impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder on her life, they said. indicated the lawyers.

“This type of punishment inflicted on a child goes against what we all know about children: They change,” the statement said. “In the context of the criminal justice system, we also know that children who commit crimes, even brutal and unthinkable crimes, do not become adults who commit crimes. »

The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office did not immediately respond to a message Friday, the Associated Press reported.

As Law&Crime reported, Crumbley shot and killed his classmates at Oxford High School – Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; and Justin Shilling, 17, in November 2021 with a gun he received as a gift from his parents. A subsequent investigation revealed that he had been arrested draw violent images in class before the attack.

He pleaded guilty in October 2022 to all charges against him, 24 in total – including murder and terrorism. Oakland County Judge Kwame Rowe ruled that Crumbley was eligible for the sentence of life without parole, which prosecutors had requested. First-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence in Michigan, but Rowe could have considered a shorter sentence because of the defendant's age at the time.

His defense lawyers had requested an indeterminate sentence of “years”.

When Rowe handed down his sentence, he was unequivocal: the defendant would never experience life outside of prison.

“He is obsessed with violence,” Rowe said as he handed down his sentence. “This act involved extensive planning, extensive research, and he executed every single thing he planned.”

Although defense attorneys said the shooter was suffering from mental issues at the time of the attack, Rowe said his “alleged mental illness did not interfere with his ability to plan extensively for months…nor its ability to execute these plans.

The judge said the defendant accepted “that it was no one's fault but his own” and “he said this afternoon that [receiving help] probably still wouldn't have stopped him. This is absolutely concerning to this court.

The judge, who described the accused as “the rare juvenile” who deserves to be behind bars for life, said the shooter “wanted to see the impact of his crime, that's why he didn't want to suicide… he chose not to die that day because he wanted that notoriety.

He also noted that the defendant “is not himself asking this court for a sentence of several years.”

Indeed, when the shooter spoke in his own name, he asked the judge to pronounce the sentence requested by the victims' families.

“Whatever punishment they ask for, I ask you to impose it on me,” he said. “I want them to be happy. I want them to feel safe. I don't want them to worry another day.

“I am a very bad person, I have done terrible things that no one should ever do.“ he also said. “I lied, I was untrustworthy, I hurt a lot of people, and I did and I don't deny it.“

He then emphasized his intention to make positive changes in the future, regardless of the sentence.

The parents of the young victims of the shooter gave heartbreaking testimonies.

Buck Myre, father of Tate Myre, spoke movingly of the immeasurable toll the loss of his youngest son took on his family.

“Love is obviously absent from our family, because there is no joy,“ » said Buck Myre. “When you're happy, it's easy to love…my wife and I are trying to find a way to save our marriage and our family, and we haven't even done anything to ourselves.”

Others expressed a demand for justice in voices overcome by silent, desperate anger.

“There can be no forgiveness,“ said Steve St. Juliana, father of Hana St. Juliana. “There can be no rehabilitation…there is nothing he can contribute to society that can make up for the lives he so ruthlessly took.”“

Craig Shilling, father of Justin Shilling, said: “I'm going to ask you to lock up this son of ab for the rest of his pathetic life.”

Nicole Beausoleil, Madisyn Baldwin's mother, described her experience of having to see her daughter's lifeless body on a stretcher.

“To the waste that cost my daughter her life – that name will never come out of my mouth,“ she says. “This life will cease to exist for me and, like trash, it will be forgotten.“

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald highlighted the continuing and devastating impact of the shooting in arguing for a sentence of life in prison without parole.

“We'll all go home when this is all over,“ » McDonald said. “But for these victims, it is not possible to return home, because their loved one is not there. »

The defendant's appointed guardian ad litem, Deborah McKay, defended the killer's humanity, insisting he is “recoverable.”“ and can be rehabilitated.

“We heard some say that he was a monster, that he was trash,“ she said of her client. “I have to tell you, it’s a life, it’s a human being. It is a person.

Defense lawyer Paulette Michel Loftin insisted her client is no longer the same person he was when he shot and that with a combination of medication, therapy and religion, he is on the path to improvement. She also called the disturbing and disturbing diaries and videos he posted before the attack exaggerations.

Jennifer and James Crumbley became the first American parents will be found guilty of a mass school shooting committed by their child. They were sentenced to at least ten years in prison.

Marisa Sarnoff of Law&Crime contributed to this report.

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