Ethan Crumbley, the teenager who killed four classmates when he was 15 and who will never get out of prison

Ethan Crumbley is the first young man to be sentenced to life in prison without parole in more than a decade in U.S. In 2021, when he was 15 years old, he murdered four students at Oxford High School in Michigan.

In 2012, a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the sentence life sentence for a minor is excessiveexcept some criminals. Ethan It was the exception on Friday, the day his sentence was announced.

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The judge Kwame Rowe He rejected defense lawyers’ requests for a shorter sentence. On the contrary, the judge emphasized that Ethan CrumbleyNow 17, he will not have the opportunity for parole.

According to a report by the AP agency moments before hearing his sentence The teenager apologized for the crime and he seemed to agree with his victims and the mourners that the severest punishment was appropriate for him.

“Whatever sentence you ask for, I ask that you impose it on me,” Ethan said. “I want them to be happy and I want them to feel safe and secure. I don’t want you to worry another day. “I’m sorry for what I did… But I can do my best in the future to help other people, and that’s what I will do.”

Ethan Crumbley after being arrested. (AFP). (FLYER/)

On November 30, 2021, Ethan Crumbley opened fire at school Oxford High School, Michigan with one Sig Sauer pistol which he hid in his backpack along with 50 bullets. The gun was purchased by his father.

He killed four students aged between 14 and 17 and injured six other students and a teacher.

Investigators later discovered he recorded a video the night before the crime in which he talked about killing students, police Lt. Tim Willis said at the time.

“I’ll be the school’s next lineman.”he said in the recording.

In a newspaper, the attacker had written about his desire to see students suffer and the likelihood of spending life in prison.

According to ABC News, days before the shooting, a teacher saw Crumbley researching ammunition in the classroom. School officials contacted his parents, but they did not respond.

His mother then sent a text message to Ethan where she wrote, “Haha I’m not mad at you, you need to learn how not to get caught,” according to prosecutors.

Hours before the shooting, prosecutors say, a teacher saw a note on the student’s desk. Ethan which contained “a drawing of a semi-automatic pistol pointing to the words: ‘The thoughts won’t stop, help me‘”. In another section of the note there was a drawing of a bullet with the following words above that projectile: “Blood everywhere.”

Last year, Ethan pleaded guilty to one count of terrorismfour counts of murder and 19 others related to the deadly attack.

During the trial, Crumbley He admitted that on November 30, 2021, he took a gun from a container that was at the bottom of his unlocked house, hid it in his backpack and took it out in a school bathroom before opening fire on his classmates.

Madisyn, 17 years old; Tate Myre, 16; Hana Santa Juliana, 14, and Justin Shilling, 17, lost their lives.

Ethan Crumbley with his attorneys Paulette Loftin and Amy Hopp, on December 8, 2023, in Pontiac, Michigan. (Carlos Osório/AP).

“I am a very bad person. “I did terrible things that no one should do,” he said. Ethan before listening to your pity.

When delivering the sentence, the judge Rowe emphasized the “extensive planning” of the shooting and said that Crumbley He could have changed his mind at any time, but he didn’t.

“He continued walking around the school, choosing who would die,” said Rowe, who called the attack on classmates an “execution” and a “torture”.

The defense of Crumbley had asked the judge to give him the opportunity to change his life and be eligible for parole. A court-appointed guardian, the lawyer Deborah McKelvymaintained that the teenager was not the same person two years after the murders, reported the AP agency.

“He is a brilliant young man,” he told the judge. “He’s an artist. He’s a historian. There are days when I sit in his cell for three hours just talking to him. “His life can be saved.”

Defense lawyer Paulette Michel Loftin said that Crumbley improved with medication and mental health care.

“He is remorseful. “He was able to keep the dark voices and dark thoughts at bay,” Loftin said.

James Crumbley, 45, father of Ethan Crumbley, appeared in court on December 14, 2021. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP). (JEFF KOWALSKY/)

Jennifer Crumbley, 43, mother of Ethan Crumbley, in court on December 14, 2021. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP). (JEFF KOWALSKY/)

Ethan’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, will be tried on January 23 on four counts of involuntary manslaughter. The Public Prosecutor’s Office holds them partially responsible for their son’s actions.

Both have pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, which each carry a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison and a fine of $30,000.

Source: Elcomercio