On Friday, Ethan Crumbley was sentenced to life without parole for killing four classmates and wounding six others and a teacher at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021.
From top left, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling. From bottom left, Tate Myre and Madisyn Baldwin (Source: CNN)
Oxford High School Killing in Michigan Pleads Guilty
Last-minute defense arguments that Crumbley’s life could be preserved were dismissed by Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwamé Rowe, who stated that the defendant in his own words. He said that it was entirely his fault. Rowe stated that Justin Shilling, 17, was shot at point-blank range after the defendant ordered him to kneel. Hana St. Juliana, 14, was shot again after being knocked down, to complete the job. “That’s execution. It’s agony. Most people were shot many times. Notoriety was his motivation, he wrote. He wants to be known as the largest school shooter in Michigan history. Before the sentence, Crumbley informed the judge, “I am a horrible person. I did horrific things no one should do.” No matter the sentence, he said, “I do plan to be better.” According to court documents, Crumbley is the first minor to receive an original sentence of life without parole after a 2012 US Supreme Court opinion that concluded it is disproportionate for everyone but the rare offender. The brutal attack was done by him at 15.
The sentencing followed an emotional, hours-long hearing that began with a speech from the mother of gunshot victim Madisyn Baldwin, 17, a high school senior who died in 2021. Nicole Beausoleil calmly recalled witnessing her daughter’s lifeless body on a frigid trolley in a steel chamber with blue fingernails and bloody hair. Nicole Beausoleil thought, “That is not my daughter,” when she gave the first victim impact statement at sentencing. Beausoleil said she was taken away “screaming like a toddler” from her daughter’s body. She stated her scream should have broken the glass separating her from her daughter’s body the day after the shooting. Beausoleil reminded her late daughter that she is the light in the darkness. When the world gets dark, she shines brightly. Madisyn, according to her mother, is not a statistic or a victim. Be remembered by her name, a name that is universally liked. Some of the victims’ families informed Crumbley that the tragedy had not broken them. Despite this, victims’ family and survivors claim their lives have been eternally altered, with ongoing sadness, remorse, and despair.
Crumbley pleaded guilty last year to one crime of terrorism causing death, four counts of first-degree murder, and 19 additional offenses relating to the murderous rampage, a rare state court conviction. Less than two months earlier, a court concluded Crumbley was eligible for Michigan’s maximum punishment because of his “obsession with violence” and unlikely recovery. The judge sentenced Crumbley after hours of victim impact testimony from dozens of Oxford High School attack survivors and family members. The case occurred as CNN reports 80 school shootings this year in the US. On November 30, 2021, when he was 15, the defendant admitted in court that he got a gun from an unlocked container at his home, hid it in his backpack, and took it out in a bathroom to shoot his classmates.
READ ALSO: Convicted Ex-Officer Derek Chauvin, Guilty in George Floyd’s Killing, Reportedly Stabbed in Prison
