Michigan teen who killed four students is sentenced to life in prison

The teenager who committed the deadliest high school shooting in Michigan history, killing four students and wounding seven other people, was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Ethan Crumbley was a 15-year-old sophomore at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit on Nov. 30, 2021, when he pulled a 9-millimeter Sig Sauer pistol from his backpack. He had convinced his father to buy the gun for him a few days earlier.

Killed in the attack were Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17; and Hana St. Juliana, 14.

Michigan does not have the death penalty. In September, Judge Kwamé Rowe ruled that Ethan, despite being a minor and despite his difficult life, was eligible for a life sentence without parole. He had pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree murder.

Family members who attended Friday’s sentencing hearing described the devastating impact the shooting had on their lives.

“Nov. January 30, 2021 is a day that changed my life forever. It burns in my body like a lit cigarette,” said Nicole Beausoleil, Madisyn Baldwin’s mother. “It’s a feeling no parent should ever have to feel.”

Speaking to the gunman, but not giving his name, Ms Beausoleil said: “I don’t wish death on you, that would be too easy. I hope the thoughts consume you and repeat themselves over and over again in your head,” she said. “I hope the screaming keeps you awake at night.”

Steve St. Juliana, Hana’s father, told the court Friday that he cannot forgive the gunman for killing his daughter and the three other students. “There can be no rehabilitation,” he said, adding that “there is absolutely nothing he could ever do to contribute to society to compensate for the lives he so ruthlessly took.”

Former Oxford High School students who were shot on November 30 but survived spoke about the resulting physical limitations and the ways their fear has changed the way they think, feel and act every day. Other students similarly spoke of the constant struggle with nightmares, depression and panic attacks.

“I’m grieving for the life I once had,” said Riley Franz, 19, who was shot in the neck that day.

As family members of each of the victims, former and current Oxford High School students and parents spoke, Ethan kept his head down and did not appear to be looking at any of the speakers.

In her closing remarks on Friday, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald urged the judge to sentence Ethan to life in prison without parole, drawing attention to the suffering of the survivors.

“They don’t think they are safe, some can’t sleep, some have to sleep in their parents’ room,” Ms McDonald said. “There is a deep, deep loss, loss of safety, loss of loved ones. But most importantly, I heard them losing themselves.”

Deborah McKelvy, who was appointed by the court to represent Ethan’s interests, asked for a sentence with the possibility of parole.

“He is a life, he is a human being, he is a person,” Ms McKelvy said, acknowledging Ethan’s horrific actions.

“His life is worth saving,” she added. “His life is worth rehabilitating.”

Before he was sentenced, Ethan spoke directly to the court, saying he would try to be a better person and asking if the judge would impose a sentence on him that would give the victims’ families a “final sense of guilt” that justice has been somewhat served.”

“I am truly sorry for what I did,” he added.

Testimony at pre-trial hearings, necessitated by the shooter’s youth, revealed that he had hoped to become famous as Michigan’s most notorious school shooter. Depressed because of his unhappy childhood, he had written in a diary that his “first victim should be a beautiful girl with a future, so that she could suffer like me.” He had even searched the internet to find out what punishment awaited him.

His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were not allowed to attend the sentencing. They are also in jail, awaiting trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter for contributing to their son’s actions. They have pleaded not guilty.

The evidence made public during the hearings showed that the parents had neglected their son and ignored his symptoms of mental illness – including hallucinations that a “demon” was in the family’s home.

Just hours before the shooting, the couple had been called to school because a teacher had seen a drawing of Ethan’s that depicted a shooting.

“Blood everywhere,” he wrote. “The thoughts don’t stop. Help me.”

But the Crumbleys ignored a school counselor’s advice to take their son home that day.

Judge Rowe ruled that these mitigating factors did not outweigh the heinous nature of his crime.

The judge’s ruling comes as Michigan lawmakers consider legislation that would ban life sentences without parole for minors in the state.

If the bill passes, Michigan would join 28 other states and the District of Columbia in banning such punishments for juvenile offenders.

Preston Shipp, senior policy advisor for the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, an organization that opposes life without parole for youth, said Michigan has more youth serving life sentences in its prison system than any other state.

“If this case had happened in Texas, Arkansas or Virginia, life without parole would not be an option,” Shipp said. “He is in the worst place on earth when it comes to the way children who cause harm are dealt with.”

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald argued for a life sentence without parole for Ethan, calling the Oxford High School shooting an example of “the rare case and the rare suspect.”