Key hearing begins for Michigan high school shooter

(27 Jul 2023) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: POOL Pontiac, Michigan - 27 July 2023 1. Ethan Crumbley enters the courtroom 2. Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwame Rowe on the bench 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Karen McDonald, Oakland County Prosecutor: "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 6. UPSOUND Willis reads one of Crumbley's journal entries, which is displayed on a screen in the courtroom, saying (English) "I just saw a group of girls sitting down in the hallway. If I had my pistol on me, then I would have not hesitated to blow both of their brains out. I would just hope their parents will feel the sadness and distraught 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. I want to impact the world with this. I'm going (to) record the shooting so when they show the video in court everyone can see their children and friends dying. I want for the parents to see their kids burn to ash and bawl their eyes out. I'm going to spend the rest of my life in prison rotting like a tomato." 7. Crumbley in court 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 would just hope their parents will feel the sadness and distraught when I shoot up the school" Crumbley wrote. "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." 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.” In her opening remarks, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said 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." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/9b64d4accf9e4437afdfcaf87efe494c

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