A teenager who killed four fellow students at Michigan’s Oxford High School is eligible for life in prison with no chance for parole, a judge ruled Friday.
A teenager who killed four fellow students at Michigan’s Oxford High School is eligible for life in prison with no chance for parole, a judge ruled Friday, finding only a “slim” chance for rehabilitation after the 2021 attack.
Judge Kwamé Rowe announced the decision over video conference, weeks after hearing from experts who clashed over Ethan Crumbley’s mental health and witnesses who described the terror of the day in sharp detail.
He will be sentenced in Oakland County court on Dec. 8, a day when survivors and families can tell the judge about how the shooting affected their lives.
First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence for adults in Michigan.
But the shooter was 15 at the time, which now gives the judge options: life in prison or a shorter term — somewhere from 25 years to 40 years at a minimum — and an eventual opportunity for freedom.
The hearing was the result of a series of major decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court and Michigan Supreme Court about how to treat teenagers who are convicted of murder.
The burden was on prosecutors to show that a life sentence in the Oxford tragedy would not be an excessive punishment.
Rowe, who read his opinion aloud for nearly an hour, said they had cleared that hurdle.
“This crime is not the result of impetuosity or recklessness,” Rowe said. “Nor does the crime reflect the hallmarks of youth.
