Oxford High School shooter files motion for court to consider new sentence

Attorneys for the former Oxford High School student sentenced to life without parole for shooting and killing four students in a November 2021 attack filed a motion Friday in Oakland County Circuit Court to withdraw his guilty plea and for the court to resentence him.

The State Appellate Defender Office (SADO) wrote in a news release Friday that investigators have "uncovered new and compelling evidence," supporting a new sentence, including seven witnesses who could discuss Ethan Crumbley's "childhood struggles and his mother's alcohol abuse during pregnancy." A brief in support of the motion filed Friday claims Jennifer and James Crumbley celebrated their wedding by drinking champagne when she was seven weeks pregnant.

Crumbley was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in December 2023 for murdering four Oxford High School students: 16-year-old Tate Myre; 17-year-olds Madisyn Baldwin and Justin Shilling, and 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana. He also injured seven other people in the shooting.

The organization also wants to bring in an "expert witness to properly present information about Ethan and his childhood rather than one who cut and pasted information from other reports." The evidence also questions whether Crumbley understood his plea when it was entered, attorneys claim.

Children who commit crimes have low rates of reoffending, SADO has argued, writing, "A life without parole sentence for a child is unconscionable."

Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com.