OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (NewsNation) — A Michigan judge sentenced the Oxford High School shooter to multiple life sentences without parole after hearing emotional impact statements from survivors and victim families Friday morning.
Ethan Crumbley, 17, could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Oakland County court Friday, according to Judge Kwamé Rowe. The judge announced the decision in September after hearing from experts who clashed over Crumbley’s mental health and witnesses who described the tragic day in 2021 in sharp detail.
“My son doesn’t get a second chance, so why should he?” Craig Shilling said.
The defense asked for a shorter sentence — anywhere from 25 years to 40 years at a minimum — that would eventually make him eligible for release by the state parole board.
Speaking on his own behalf at sentencing, Crumbley admitted that he had done a terrible thing but said that he was working to change.
“I am a really bad person, I’ve done terrible things,” he said.
The shooter pleaded guilty to all 24 charges of murder, terrorism and other crimes. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence for adults in Michigan. But the shooter was 15 at the time, and the judge had the option of choosing a shorter term that would mean an eventual opportunity for freedom.
On Nov. 30, 2021, Crumbley and his parents met with school staff on the day of the shooting after a teacher noticed violent drawings. But no one checked his backpack for a gun and he was allowed to stay.
Crumbley then killed Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling later that day. Six students and a teacher were also wounded.
Baldwin’s mother, Myre’s father and several others spoke Friday, sharing victim impact statements in front of the judge.
“We are completely miserable, and we can’t find a way out,” Buck Myre said. “But today, the tide changes. You are the prisoner, not us.”
The shooter’s lawyers had previously argued that Crumbley was in a devastating spiral by fall 2021 after being deeply neglected by his parents, who bought a gun and took him to a shooting range to try it. A psychologist, Colin King, described him as a “feral child.”
However, Dr. Lisa Anacker, a psychiatrist who evaluated the shooter at a state psychiatric hospital, said he was not mentally ill at the time of the shooting, at least under strict standards in Michigan law.
“I have first-hand knowledge of how you disregard and devalue human life,” Molly Darnell, the teacher injured during the shooting, said. “You have proven you cannot be trusted to live within a free community.”
Crumbley’s parents have been in custody since shortly after the shooting, unable to afford a $500,000 bond. They are accused of contributing to the tragedy by making a gun accessible to their son at home and ignoring his mental health needs.
James and Jennifer Crumbley haven’t had any contact with their son for nearly two years, though all three are being held at a suburban Detroit jail. A judge turned down a request by the parents to leave jail and attend their son’s sentencing. They will, however, be able to watch his sentencing from inside the jail.
Defense attorney Paulette Michel Loftin said Crumbley deserved an opportunity for parole someday after his “sick brain” is fixed through counseling and rehabilitation.
“Even if the defendant changes, and he finds some peace and some meaning in his life beyond torturing and killing, does not mean that he ever gets the right to live free among us,” prosecutor Karen McDonald said while arguing for a life sentence on Aug. 18.
There is no dispute that the shooter kept a journal and wrote about his desire to watch students suffer and the likelihood that he would spend his life in prison. He made a video with his phone on the eve of shooting, declaring what he would do the next day.
“I’m sorry the families have to go through this,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.