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Ethan Crumbley, the 17-year-old who gunned down four Michigan students in 2021, has been sentenced to life without parole. On Friday, December 8, 2023, Oakland County Judge, Kwame Rowe, sentenced him for unleashing a “true act of terrorism.”
The judge weighed the possibility of giving him the maximum sentence possible after Ethan Crumbley opened fire at Oxford High School on November 30, 2021. At the time, he was only 15 years old. Apart from leaving several people wounded, he ended up fatally shooting Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana, and Justin Shilling.
During the sentencing, the judge stated how he was impacted as he read the statements of the survivors and the people who were affected by the crime committed by Ethan Crumbley. Kwame Rowe stated:
"Unfortunately this is what the defendant wanted, as he wrote in his journal. He wanted to see the impact of his crime. He chose not to die on that day because he wanted the notoriety. The terror that he caused in the state of Michigan and in Oxford is a true act of terrorism."
The sentence came after Crumbley pleaded guilty to all 24 charges in the case, which also included first-degree murder and terrorism. As per AP News, he wrote in his journal about how he had this desire to see the students suffering. He even made a video just a day before the shooting, stating his intentions.
Ethan Crumbley’s parents are also jailed and awaiting trial
Ethan Crumbley revealed that he met with the school staff with his parents on the day of the shooting, but no one checked his bag, in which he was carrying the gun. As the 17-year-old gets life in prison without parole, his parents are also awaiting trial as they are imprisoned in the county jail on charges of making a gun available to the child, as well as neglecting their son’s mental health.
Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald, who demanded the maximum possible sentence for Ethan, stated that giving him life imprisonment with no parole “was the right thing to do.” She added:
“We put a name and a voice to victims of terrorism and it’s the first time in the country that that's happened for a school shooting. The courage and the fierceness of what they said, these things will stay with them for the rest of their lives and that's why that charge is so important because we have to name that and give them the dignity that they’re due.”
Furthermore, the defence attorney also spoke up and claimed how her client was “remorseful” after two years. She also went on and state how spending a lifetime in prison will be tough for him:
"I can’t tell you exactly what he’s told me but over 175 visits I’ve had with him, there’s remorse.”
With this, Crumbley also becomes the first minor to be sentenced to life without parole since the 2012 Supreme Court ruling that “sentencing a child to life without parole is excessive for all but the rare offender.”
