Oxford High School shooter eligible for LWOP
By now, you probably know who Ethan Crumbley is. Back in November 2021, a then 15-year-old Crumbley shot and killed four other students at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan. Those killed were 16-year-old Tate Myre, 14-year-old Hana St. Julian, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin, and 17-year-old Justin Shilling. In October 2022, Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and terrorism causing death, seven counts of assault with intent to murder, and 12 counts of possessing a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Over the summer, a four-day Miller hearing was held to determine if Crumbley could be eligible for a sentence of life without parole. This past Friday, September 29th, a Michigan judge ruled that Crumbley will be eligible for a sentence of life without parole, when he is sentenced on December 8th.
When sentencing minors as adults, many will state minors shouldn’t be charged as adults, since their brains haven’t fully developed. In his ruling, the judge noted Crumbley had a maturity beyond his years. The judge cited Crumbley’s ability to maintain a steady job and was working toward becoming a pro bowler. However, that same maturity also enabled Crumbley to manipulate his father into buying him the gun used in the shooting with Crumbley’s own money.
This maturity also enabled Crumbley to meticulously plan his deadly massacre. The judge noted that not only did Crumbley research the penalties for being caught after a school shooting, but he also did extensive research on previous school shootings. He concluded his ruling by saying the chances of Crumbley being rehabilitated were ‘slim’. I wish he would have said his chances were slim to none, and Slim just left, but that’s just me, and I’m weird.
The judge also noted that while Crumbley does suffer from mental illness, his mental illness wasn’t severe enough to be a factor in the shooting.
Speaking of mental illness, Crumbley’s defense claimed the teen struggled with depression, paranoid thoughts, and heard voices. Now look, I’m the last person who would dismiss someone’s mental health issues, but some of these claims are bullshit. I have an extensive history of depression going back to my teenage years. Hell, I’m dealing with a pretty big depressive episode as I type this. It’s why I don’t post nearly as much as I used to. While depression does present itself in a myriad of ways, people with depression are more likely to harm themselves than other people.
I can’t speak to the paranoid thoughts, but nothing I’ve read in the news reports since the shooting indicates to me he suffered from any kind of paranoia.
As far as hearing voices go, this is a well-worn trope with school shooters. The first time I remember a school shooter trying to claim they heard voices was 20 years ago, after the shooting at Rocori High School in Minnesota. The types of mental illnesses that make someone hear voices can’t be hidden very easily, and rarely present themselves in teens as young as Crumbley was at the time of the shooting.
A psychiatrist who testified for the prosecution claimed Crumbley did not meet the statutory definition of being mentally ill. This essentially means Crumbley wasn’t mentally ill to the point where he didn’t know right from wrong.
Now, before anyone starts having qualms about a teenager with mental illness possibly being sentenced to prison for life without the possibility of parole, let’s take a moment to remember how he got here. You know, besides the fact he killed four other students in cold blood. What helped seal his fate was that he wrote in his prerequisite journal, he wanted to record the attack on video, so the parents of his victims would have to watch the shooting in court. That’s just unhinged sadism that’s entirely on another level from his cowardly predecessors.
According to reports, Crumbley is still obsessed with violence, as he was caught with a prison-issued tablet on which he was viewing websites that showed graphic images of killings. The jail needs to get on their IT department to lock that shit down.
If Crumbley is not sentenced to LWOP, he’ll still have to serve a 25-year sentence before he would be eligible for parole.
(Sources)
