(Source: MIRS.news, Published 07/28/2023) “I could taste his blood. So much blood. It was all over me. It took me a long time, months, almost a year to get the taste of Tate’s blood out of my mouth.”
Those words came from an emotional Oxford High School Assistant Principal Kristy Gibson-Marshall, who testified Fridayon Day 2 of a hearing to determine whether Oxford High shooter Ethan Crumbley could be sentenced to life in prison. She said the shooter walked past her and Tate Myre, who lay on the floor of a school’s hallway and how she tried to save his life.
Gibson-Marshall said she recognized the shooter, Crumbley, as he moved closer.
“It couldn’t be Ethan; he wouldn’t do that,” she said when asked what her thoughts were that fatal day in November 2021. “So, I talked to him.”
But the assistant principal returned to Myre, whom she tried to help. She said she could feel the entrance wound in the back of his head and saw the bullet exit through his eye.
Gibson-Marshall checked Myre’s vitals and she gave him cardiopulmonary resuscitation as she told him, “I loved him; I needed him to hang with me.”
The hearing, known as a Miller hearing, continues Tuesday. It has provided a graphic, heart-wrenching picture of what happened inside the high school when Crumbley, then 15, fatally shot four students and injured seven other people.
At the end, Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwamé Rowe will consider a number of factors – such as defendant’s age and home environment – when deciding whether Crumbley, now 17, will receive a life-without-parole sentence.
Friday’s testimony began with the cross-examination of Oakland County Sheriff’s Detective Edward Wagrowski followed by Oxford students Heidi Allen, 17, and Keegan Gregory, 17.
Allen, a sophomore at the time, testified that she noticed Crumbley, whom she recognized, come out of the bathroom dressed in all black clothing and wearing a mask. She then heard a gunshot, witnessing students being shot.
“There was no screaming, just the gunshots,” she said, describing the sound as “a locker slamming.”
Allen said she prayed because “I didn’t know if those were my last moments.” At one point, she helped shooting victim Phebe Arthur into an empty classroom where she tried to help Arthur, who had been shot near her left collarbone and neck.
Gregory, a 16-year-old freshman at the time, said he was in the bathroom with Justin Shilling, 17, when the shooting began. He said he followed Shilling’s instructions to hide in a stall and not show his feet under the door.
Gregory texted his family in a group chat: “HELP,” “GUN,” “IM HIDING IN THE BATHROOM,” “OMG.” “i’m [sic] terrified.” His father told him to stay down, stay quiet and calm.
At one point, Shilling signaled how they should run, but before they could, the shooter was in the bathroom.
Gregory said Crumbley kicked in the bathroom stall doors and “stared at us,” before ordering Shilling to exit the stall. Gregory heard a gunshot.
Gregory told his family in text messages: “he killed him,” “OMFG,” “I JUST WATCHED HIM KILL SOMONE [sic].”
Crumbley returned to Gregory’s stall and ordered him to come out.
“Please,” Gregory told Crumbley, who signaled for the terrified teen to move to Shilling’s body.
Gregory said he was placed against a wall and he ran, safely making it to the office. He said that if Shilling hadn’t died, then “I’d be dead right now.”
The defense did not cross examine Allen or Gregory.
Also killed were students Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Hana St. Juliana, 14.
Can Defendant Be Rehabilitated?
The defense presented two witnesses to show that Crumbley could be rehabilitated.
Kenneth Arthur Romanowski, a deputy warden and corrections expert, testified that he believes everyone has a potential to change and Crumbley is no exception, but it is the defendant’s choice.
When asked if he was aware of the details of Crumbley’s crimes, Romanowski acknowledged the “facts are horribly disturbing.”
“But, do I still think he has the opportunity to the possibility of change? Yes,” Romanowski said.
Daniel Keating, an expert in adolescent brain development who isn’t familiar with Crumbley or his criminal case, said whether a teen like Crumbley can return to reason is a “process that goes on for years,” but the possibility of rehabilitation does exist.
When asked, Keating said it is not possible, however, to predict whether Crumbley’s 15-year-old adolescent brain is “irreparably corrupt.”
The U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to send teen offenders to prison for life-without-parole (LWOP) in its Miller v. Alabama ruling, which included a loophole that prosecutors can still seek LWOP if the juvenile’s crime reflects “irreparable corruption.”
“Until someone can present evidence that says, ‘Yes, we can predict this with some level of accuracy that we find acceptable,’ we don’t have a scientific basis for determining anything like irreparable corruption,” said Keating, whose work is cited in an amicus brief filed in the Miller case.
The prosecution said it didn’t have to prove irreparable corruption as the “touchstone of the whole evaluation is proportionality.”
Defense Presents Text Messages
On Thursday, defense attorney Paulette Michel Loftin questioned witnesses about Crumbley’s untreated mental illness and she told Rowe that her client “is not one of those rare juveniles that is irreparably corrupt and without the ability to be rehabilitated.”
Friday, Loftin presented text messages between Crumbley and his parents to show that the parents ignored him as he struggled with mental health.
Among those texts were: “I don’t like being home alone . . . mommy can you please be home now. Can you please be home.” His mother did not respond.
In another text in March 2021, Crumbley told his mother that he was hallucinating, saying someone came into the house, walked into the bathroom and flushed the toilet. He also told his mother than he cleaned clothes until they “started flying off the shelf.” His mother did not respond to either text message.
Crumbly shared those experiences with text messages to friends.
Defense attorney Amy Hopp also argued the focus of the hearing should be on Crumbly and the relevant factors required to determine her client’s sentence.
Prosecutor Karen McDonald fought back, saying it was “offensive” to not allow the prosecution to present witnesses whose testimony is “completely appropriate.” She asked the judge to not allow the defense to badger the two student witnesses, who deserved “dignity and respect.”
Rowe warned everyone to behave with respect, saying the witnesses may add relevant information that will help him when making a decision.
The hearing also provided a view into the prosecutor’s separate cases against Crumbley’s parents, who are charged with involuntary manslaughter for not intervening before the shooting. They are awaiting trial, which has not been set because the Michigan Supreme Court has yet to rule on their appeal seeking to have the charges dismissed.
