Representative image of jail.
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The teenager who committed the deadliest high school shooting in Michigan history, killing four students and injuring seven other people, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday.
Ethan Crumbley was a 15-year-old sophomore at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit on Nov. 30, 2021, when he pulled a 9-mm Sig Sauer handgun out of his backpack. He had persuaded his father to purchase the gun for him just days earlier.
Killed in the attack were Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17; and Hana St. Juliana, 14.
Michigan does not have the death penalty, so the sentence imposed by Judge Kwamé Rowe was the harshest available. In September, he ruled that despite being a minor, and despite his difficult life, Crumbley was eligible for a sentence of life without parole. He had pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree murder.
Family members attending the sentencing hearing Friday described the devastating impact of the shooting on their lives.
Steve St. Juliana, the father of Hana, told the court on Friday that he cannot forgive Crumbley for murdering his daughter and the three other students. "There can be no rehabilitation," he said, adding that "there is utterly nothing that he could ever do to contribute to society that would make up for the lives that he has so ruthlessly taken."
Deborah McKelvy, who was appointed by the court to represent Crumbley's interests, asked for a sentence that would come with the possibility of parole.
"His life is worth salvaging," she added. "His life is worth rehabilitating."
Before he was sentenced, Crumbley spoke to the court directly, saying that he was going to try to be a better person and asking that the judge impose a sentence on him that would give the victims' families a sense "that justice has somewhat been served."
"I really am sorry for what I've done," he added.
His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were not permitted to attend the sentencing. They are also in jail, awaiting trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter for contributing to their son's actions. They have pleaded not guilty.
The judge's sentence came as Michigan lawmakers consider legislation that would ban life-without-parole sentences for minors in the state.