While the media cycle has seemingly moved on for the most part, as they always do, the matter of Michigan’s 15-year-old Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley is far from over.
While politicians and many Americans get on with their lives after their obligatory “thoughts and prayers,” as we’ve come to expect in the wake of a school shooting tragedy in this nation, Crumbley has apparently been hard at work with his legal team on the defense he will use in the massive case against him.
And to say that we’re appalled would be the understatement of the years.
New court filings have recently been released and reported on by The Detroit News, revealing that Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley intends to move forward with a plea of insanity in the criminal case against him — after he opened fire in the school where he was a sophomore, killing 4 of his fellow students and gravely injuring an additional 6 students and 1 teacher.
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Crumbley has already pleaded not guilty to committing the most deadly school shooting this country has seen since 2018.
Earlier today, defense attorneys Paulette Michel Loftin and Amy Hopp filed a one-sentence notice of insanity defense to the Oakland Circuit Court, according to the publication. The outlet goes on to note that neither of the lawyers has returned telephone calls on the matter.
“Please take notice that pursuant to MCL 769.20a the defendant Ethan Crumbley intends to assert the defense of insanity at the time of the alleged offense and gives his notice of his intention to claim such a defense,” The Detroit News reports the court filing reading.
A copy of the insanity plea notice was also reportedly sent to Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. The filing was assigned to Judge Kwame Rowe.
The Detroit News notes that state law dictates Crumbley’s legal team would be required to prove through a preponderance of the evidence that he lacked “substantial capacity either to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his or her conduct or to conform his or her conduct to the requirements of the law.” A series of tests would be able to determine whether Crumbley suffers from some sort of mental illness or intellectual disability.
You can read the full report from The Detroit News here.
Featured image via screen capture
