MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

Judge denies request to move 'menace' Ethan Crumbley to juvie so he can continue his studies

Deborah McKelvy, Ethan Crumbley's court-appointed guardian, asked the judge if he could be moved out of the Oakland County Jail for adult inmates for his studies

Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old who shot up a Michigan high school and killed four students, appeared in court via video link on Monday, December 13, for a hearing. In an appeal to the judge, Crumbley's lawyer requested he be moved to a juvenile detention center so he could continue with his education, just two weeks after the mass shooting incident. Currently, the school shooter is being held in an adult jail with no access to high school education-related facilities.

Crumbley appeared on Zoom in an orange jumpsuit, wearing a face mask and a pair of glasses. The teenager is currently being held on first-degree murder charges and charges of terrorism and aggravated assault for the shooting at Oxford High School on November 30. His parents James and Jennifer Crumbley have been charged with manslaughter after allegedly buying their son the gun as a Christmas gift and ignoring warning signs in the days leading up to the tragedy. 

RELATED ARTICLES

'Ethan Crumbley may get a lighter sentence if he lays blame on his parents': Expert

Oxford superintendent said 'no discipline warranted' for Ethan Crumbley before attack

Deborah McKelvy, Ethan's court-appointed guardian, asked the judge on Monday if he could be moved out of the Oakland County Jail, where he is remanded in custody alongside 939 other adult inmates, including his parents. "I'm not being humorous but he could still be in school. He is still 15 years old. I’m imploring you, he should be allowed to go back to the village," McKelvy urged. Meanwhile, Ethan's lawyer Paulette Loftin agreed and called the shooting an "isolated incident."

"I honestly do not believe that my client should be considered a menace to other juveniles. This one isolated incident is all that we are looking at today," she said. "There are other juveniles housed at children’s village charged with murder. This is someone who has never been in trouble before. This is not someone who has a history of assaulting kids his age or any other negative contact with his peers," she added. McKelvy reportedly bemoaned in court that Ethan heard adult "sounds" in the prison that he was too young to be exposed to. According to the Daily Mail, it is unclear what type of sounds the guardian was referring to. 

However, the request was denied by Judge Nancy Carniak, who called Ethan a "menace" to other young inmates. "His conduct could be a menace to other juveniles. I think his placement is appropriate," she asserted. Prosecutors also argued against the ask, describing the suspect as a cold-hearted killer who claimed the lives of four of his classmates, namely Hana St. Juliana, 14, Tate Myre, 16, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17. "This cannot be compared to any other case that this court or any other court has seen in this county," Prosecutor Marc Keast insisted. "Calling it an isolated incident does not do it justice. This was a mass murder at a school. The defendant didn’t just attack other individuals, he targeted juveniles." Keast, nonetheless, agreed that the 15-year-old should be held separate from adult prisoners and said he would ensure the jail keeps him "neither within sight nor sound of any adult at the jail."

Ethan's court-appointed attorney said she's not working with the lawyer privately retained by his parents because the two cases are separate. The couple, facing four charges of involuntary manslaughter, hired high-profile lawyers Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman to defend themselves in court. According to the Daily Mail, each count carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison along with a $7,500 fine and mandatory DNA testing. Meanwhile, Ethan Crumbley's next hearing is slated for January 7.