PONTIAC, Mich. — A judge sentenced a Michigan teenager to life in prison Friday for killing four students and terrorizing others at Oxford High School, after listening to hours of gripping anguish from parents and wounded survivors.
Judge Kwame Rowe rejected pleas from defense lawyers for a shorter sentence and ensured that Ethan Crumbley, 17, will not get an opportunity for parole.
“My actions were what I chose to do. I could not stop myself. … I am a really bad person. I’ve done terrible things,” Crumbley, who was 15 when he attacked his school in 2021, said before the sentence was announced.
He said he was sorry and pledged to change while behind bars.
Life sentences for teenagers are rare in Michigan since the U.S. Supreme Court and the state’s highest court said the violent acts of minors must be viewed differently than the crimes of adults. But the Oakland County prosecutor said a no-parole term fits Crumbley’s case.
Rowe’s decision followed deeply emotional remarks by families of the deceased and survivors who spoke about how the tragedy has affected them.
“Your statements,” Rowe said, “do not fall on deaf ears.”
Crumbley pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree murder and terrorism.
“We are miserable. We miss Tate,” said Buck Myre, the father of Tate Myre. “Our family has a permanent hole in it that can never be fixed — ever.”
Nicole Beausoleil recalled seeing the body of her daughter, Madisyn Baldwin, at the medical examiner’s office, her hand with blue-painted fingernails sticking out from a covering.
“I looked though the glass. My scream should have shattered it,” Beausoleil said.
Jill Soave, the mother of Justin Shilling, told the shooter that he executed a boy who could have helped him navigate awkward teenage years.
“If you were that lonely, that miserable and lost, and you really needed a friend, Justin would have been your friend — if only you had asked,” Soave said.
Crumbley looked down as Soave and…
