Ethan Crumbley Wants New Trial, To Withdraw Guilty Plea: Lawyers

MANISTEE, MI — Oxford school shooter Ethan Crumbley is appealing his life without parole sentence and wants to withdraw his guilty plea, according to the State Appellate Defender Office.

Defense lawyers for Crumbley want a new trial with witnesses who will testify to Crumbley's declining mental health state and deteriorating home life before the shooting in hopes of a lesser sentence, according to the defender's office.

Moreover, defense lawyers said Crumbley's life sentence is invalid because they found new evidence that includes witnesses who can speak to his struggles during childhood, his mother’s alcohol abuse during pregnancy and the potential impact of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder on his life, according to the defender's office.

"This new evidence also sheds light on whether Ethan properly understood his plea when entered, and he is asking the court to review the plea process. 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," defense lawyers said in a statement.

Oakland County Judge Kwame Rowe, who sentenced Crumbley, will review the motions. If he grants the shooter's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, the case will go back to where it stood in October 2022 before he pleaded guilty, and will proceed to a jury trial, bench trial or plea negotiations.

Rowe could also accept defense lawyers request for an invalid sentence, and hold another Miller hearing to listen to the new evidence before another sentencing hearing.

Rowe could also deny both of Crumbley's requests.

Crumbley, who was then 15, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to fatally shooting four students and wounding seven other people at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021.

He was initially placed in the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer County, but has since been moved to to the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee, which is roughly 60 miles southwest of Traverse City.

Ethan's parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley were each found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting after prosecutors said they ignored disturbing warning signs from their son leading up to the deadly shooting.

Crumbley's lawyers asked for access to confidential pre-sentencing reports for his parents earlier this month, but they turned him down.

The four students killed in the shooting were 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, 16-year-old Tate Myre, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin and 17-year-old Justin Shilling.