(27 Jul 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4446501
POOL
Pontiac, Michigan - 27 July 2023
1. Ethan Crumbley enters the courtroom
HEADLINE: Key hearing begins for Michigan high school shooter
ANNOTATION: A judge in Michigan is hearing evidence to support a request to sentence a teen school shooter to life in prison.
POOL
Pontiac, Michigan - 27 July 2023
2. Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwame Rowe on the bench
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Karen McDonald, Oakland County Prosecutor:
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"The hearing today is the most important legal proceeding in the lives of nearly everyone in this courtroom. It is incredibly important for the defendant. His life is at stake. But everyone else is here in this courtroom today, because this defendant made the decision to kill four other people and to take their lives instead of his own."
4. Crumbley listens as Oakland County sheriff’s Lt. Timothy Willis lists the names of those killed and injured in the Oxford High School shooting
5. Willis holds up the gun used in the shooting
ANNOTATION: The lead investigator was the first witness at a unique hearing to determine if Ethan Crumbley will be sentenced to life in prison or receive a shorter term.
ANNOTATION: Lt. Timothy Willis read from Crumbley’s journal.
POOL
Pontiac, Michigan - 27 July 2023
6. UPSOUND Willis reads one of Crumbley's journal entries, which is displayed on a screen in the courtroom, saying (English) “When I shoot up the school. I hope that every parent of kids I gratefully murder will be so sad that they kill themselves. I want all of America to see the darkness in me."
7. Crumbley in court
ANNOTATION: Crumbley was 15 years old when he killed four fellow students and wounded others at Oxford High School in 2021.
STORYLINE:
Evidence offered Thursday shows a teenager who killed four fellow students at a Michigan high school in 2021 wrote about his plans in a handwritten journal, detailing how he would target his victims and make himself famous.
A sheriff's investigator was the first witnesses at a unique hearing to determine if Ethan Crumbley will be sentenced to life in prison or receive a shorter term with an opportunity some day for parole.
Lt. Timothy Willis said a 22-page leather journal was found in a bathroom stall, apparently left behind by Crumbley before he emerged in a hallway at Oxford High School and began shooting.
"I hope that every parent of kids I gratefully murder will be so sad that they kill themselves. I want all of America to see the darkness in me," Crumbley wrote.
There is no dispute that Crumbley killed four fellow students and wounded seven other people. But because he was 15 at the time, he can’t automatically be given a life sentence.
A no-parole sentence is rare for Michigan teens convicted of first-degree murder since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 said minors must be viewed differently than adults.
Judge Kwame Rowe has set aside at least two days for the hearing, but isn’t expected to make an immediate decision. Crumbley’s lawyers will argue that he should be released at some point, claiming that the violence was the catastrophic climax of the teen’s untreated mental illness and “abhorrent family life.”
Crumbley is now 17. He also could be given a minimum sentence somewhere from 25 years to 40 years. He would then be eligible for parole, though the parole board has much discretion to delay hearings and keep a prisoner in custody.
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