Judge Denies Ethan Crumbley's Request To Remove Life Without Parole, Wear Street Clothes

PONTIAC, MI — An Oakland County judge on Tuesday dismissed Ethan Crumbley's request to remove the "life without parole" condition from a possible sentencing after pleading guilty to the deadly Oxford school shooting.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwame Rowe also rejected Crumbley's request to wear street clothes instead of a jail jumpsuit at his upcoming Miller hearing, where a judge will decide if Crumbley will spend the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility of parole.

Crumbley's lawyers also sought to block some eyewitnesses in the shooting from testifying at the upcoming hearing. Rowe rejected that request as well, allowing them to testify at the hearing scheduled for July 27.

Since a first-degree murder conviction typically brings an automatic life prison sentence in Michigan, Crumbley is entitled to the Miller hearing because he's a minor.

The hearing allows Crumbley's lawyers the opportunity to argue for a shorter sentence and the possibility for parole. Crumbley cannot be sentenced until the hearing is completed.

Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, admitted to killing four students and wounding seven other people at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021. He pleaded guilty to 24 charges in connection to the deadly shooting. He faces life in prison without parole.

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.

Ethan's parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, were each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the deadly school shooting, making them the first parents ever charged in connection to a school shooting.

The Michigan Supreme Court is fielding an appeal from the couple to have the case thrown out after an Oakland County Judge ruled in March both parents can face trial on charges in connection to the deadly school shooting.