The Oxford High School shooter is asking to withdraw his guilty plea, arguing that a judge erred in sentencing him to life in prison with no chance for parole.
The State Appellate Defender Office filed a motion Friday claiming “new and compelling evidence” that a life-without-parole sentence for the teenager was not justified. The shooter was 15 years old at the time of his 2021 attack that left four classmates dead and seven people injured. In the court filing, his appellate lawyer said the teen suffered from mental health issues — some but not all related to his mother’s alleged use of alcohol while she was pregnant.
The appellate defender office said those issues as well as his age and relative immaturity made it impossible for him to truly understand the meaning of his guilty plea.
“This new evidence also sheds light on whether Ethan (Crumbley) properly understood his plea when entered, and he is asking the court to review the plea process,” said the statement from SADO. “Due process requires that every person who pleads must understand what they are doing, this is even more true when the person pleading is a child.”
The public defender also said the life-without-parole sentence ignored research that determined “children who commit crimes, even brutal and unthinkable crimes, do not go on to be adults who commit crimes.”
The shooter was charged as an adult with 24 counts that included murder and terrorism. He was sentenced after pleading guilty to the crimes.
The next step is for an Oakland County judge to rule on the request for resentencing and a hearing that includes the new evidence. That is unlikely to happen soon. The motion asks for a hearing in June of next year in order to give the shooter’s team time to prepare its case. He is serving his sentence at the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee.
