Judge chastises Oxford shooter’s appeals attorneys for trying to ‘circumvent’ court rules

An Oakland County judge on Thursday chastised defense attorneys for the Oxford High School shooter who killed four students in 2021 for allegedly trying to circumvent court rules and extend the amount of time they have to file their briefs to withdraw the shooter's guilty plea and have him be resentenced.

Ethan Crumbley's attorneys asked in June that Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwame Rowe allow him to withdraw his guilty plea and correct what they called an invalid sentence. State Appellate Defender Office attorney Jacqueline Ouvry wrote in the June motions that they needed more time to conduct a thorough investigation into mitigating factors.

Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting at Oxford High School, 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 pleaded guilty to injuring six other students and a teacher. He was sentenced to life without parole in December last year.

His attorneys set the hearing in front of Rowe for June 2025, which was nearly a year after they filed their motions. At a status conference Thursday, Rowe chastised the attorneys for trying to circumvent court rules that say post-conviction motions or appeals must come within six months of the sentencing hearing.

"Due diligence comes before filing a motion and not after," Rowe said. "In lieu of striking the motions, as this court was strongly inclined to do, the court will rule on the substance (of them)."

He said he will be ruling on the motions as originally submitted, and will not accept any supplemental or amended motions.

In her motion to withdraw Crumbley's guilty plea, Ouvry said Rowe did not properly ensure the shooter understood what a guilty plea meant. She also said his shooter's cognitive-adaptive dysfunctions — possibly caused by alcohol exposure in the womb — were never adequately raised during his plea and sentencing.

"Ethan was 16 years old, laboring with cognitive-adaptive dysfunction, and suffering from mental illness when he was tasked with evaluating whether to waive his trial rights and enter a plea," Ouvry wrote in the motion to withdraw a plea.

The State Appellate Defender Office's lawyers have argued that they've found new evidence that doesn't support a life without parole sentence for Crumbley, including witnesses who can speak to his struggles during childhood, his mother's alcohol abuse during pregnancy and the potential impact of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder on his life. No evidence has been presented in any court proceedings to show or prove he had Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

The shooter's appellate attorneys also argued that the shooter's earlier lawyers were not effective in investigating his "cognitive-adaptive deficits" and other mitigating factors in his case.

If Rowe grants the shooter's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, the case will go back to where it stood in October 2022 before he pleaded guilty. The case will then continue with either a jury trial, bench trial or plea negotiations.

If Rowe grants the motion to correct an invalid sentence, he would then hold another Miller hearing — a hearing for a juvenile facing a life sentence without the change of parole — and sentencing hearing where appellate attorneys can present new information they obtained in their investigation.

Rowe also can deny both motions.

Rowe said prosecutors must respond to Ouvry's motion by Nov. 19 and he will issue a ruling on the matter after that.