Constitutional law now requires a juveline murderer can be sentenced to life without parole “only if the sentence is not mandatory and the sentencer therefore has discretion to impose a lesser punishment.” Jones v. Mississippi, 141 S.Ct. 1307, 1311 (2021). Last week in Michigan brought these procedural realities into sharp relief in the sentencing of a high-profile school shooter. This Detroit Free Press article provides a very lengthy and quite wrenching account of the sentencing and victim statements. Here are a few excerpts focused on some legal particulars:
In the end, whatever mental illness Ethan Crumbley may have, the judge concluded it did not interfere with the teen’s ability to plan and carry out the deadliest school shooting in Michigan’s history.
Rather, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwame Rowe said in locking up the teenage killer forever, Crumbley has an obsession with violence, planned the massacre for weeks in advance...
