By admin Pontiac — An Oakland County judge on Thursday punished defense attorneys for the 2021 Oxford High School shooting that killed four students for allegedly trying to circumvent court rules and extend the time to testify in order to get the shooter to withdraw his guilty plea and question him with resentment.
In June, Ethan Crumbley’s lawyers asked Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwame Rowe to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea and correct what they call an invalid verdict. State Appellate Defender’s Office attorney Jacqueline Ouvry wrote in June motions that she needed more time to conduct a thorough investigation of mitigating factors.
Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the Oxford High School shooting, pleaded guilty in October 2022 to killing four classmates: Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17. He also admitted to injuring six other students and a teacher. Last December, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
His lawyers scheduled a hearing before Rowe for June 2025, almost a year after they filed their motions. During Thursday’s status conference, Rowe scolded lawyers for trying to circumvent court rules that stipulate that post-conviction motions or appeals must be filed within six months of the sentencing hearing.
“Due diligence happens before the application is submitted, not after,” Rowe said. “Instead of dismissing the motions, as this court was clearly inclined to do, the court will rule on the merits (of them).”
It said it would consider applications as originally submitted and would not accept any supplemental or amended applications.
In her motion to withdraw Crumbley’s guilty plea, Ouvry argued that Rowe failed to adequately ensure that the shooter understood what the guilty plea meant. She also said the shooter’s cognitive-adaptive dysfunction – likely caused by alcohol exposure in the womb – was never adequately discussed during his plea and sentencing.
More: The Oxford High School shooter is asking for his guilty plea to be withdrawn and for him to be punished
“Ethan was 16 years old, struggling with cognitive-adaptive dysfunction and suffering from mental illness when he was tasked with evaluating whether to waive his right to a trial and file a complaint,” Ouvry wrote in her motion to withdraw the complaint.
Lawyers for the State Appellate Defender’s Office argued that they found new evidence that does not support Crumbley’s possibility of survival without parole, including witnesses who can recount his struggles as a child, his mother’s alcohol abuse during pregnancy and the potential impact of fetal spectrum disorder alcoholic beverages affecting his life. No evidence was presented in any court proceedings to establish or demonstrate that he suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
The shooter’s attorneys also argued that the shooter’s prior attorneys had not been effective in examining his “cognitive-adaptive deficits” and other mitigating factors in his case.
If Rowe grants the shooter’s request to withdraw his guilty plea, the case will return to where it was in October 2022, before he pleaded guilty. The case will then continue either through a jury trial, jury trial, or plea negotiations.
If Rowe grants the motion to correct the invalid verdict, he will hold another hearing in the Miller case – a hearing for the juvenile who faces life in prison without parole modification – and a sentencing hearing, during which appellate lawyers can present new information obtained during the investigation.
Rowe may also deny both requests.
Rowe said prosecutors must respond to Ouvry’s request by Nov. 19, after which he will rule on the case.
[email protected]