By Don Rush

As of presstime, there is at least one more day of Miller Hearings for confessed Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, 17, in Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwame Rowe’s courtroom.

The Miller Hearing, which will help Rowe decide whether or not the shooter, who was 15 at the time of the Nov. 30, 2021 shooting, should receive life in prison for murdering four classmates Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre, Madisyn Baldwin, Justin Shilling and injuring seven more during his shooting spree. He pleaded guilty to the shootings this past October.

The often emotional, sometimes disturbing Miller Hearing testimony started last Thursday morning, went into Friday afternoon and was expected to continue Tuesday. Many family members of the victims were in attendance for the hearing. Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald’s team opened witness testimony with lead investigator for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, Detective Lt. Tim Willis, reading select passages from the shooter’s journal.

The journal entries described the shooters fascination with torture and death and how he wanted to be remembered by the world. He wrote he wanted to hear the screams of his victims as he shot them. The prosecutor’s team also presented two video’s of the shooter torturing baby birds.

On Friday, the prosecution presented witness testimony from two students who survived the shooting and from Oxford High School Assistant Principal Kristy Gibson-Marshall. All three recalled their own harrowing experiences during the mass shooting – seeing the shooter, finding victims and surviving.

The defense team, led by attorney Paulette Loftin in cross examination and with their own expert witnesses, claimed the shooter did not deserve a life without parole sentence, because of how his parents treated him as he was growing up and his potential for rehabilitation. The shooter’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley are also both in Oakland County jail awaiting their trial for four counts of involuntary manslaughter resulting from their son’s actions.