OXFORD, Mich. – The teen shooter who pleaded guilty in the deadly 2021 shooting at Oxford High School had his appeal denied by the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Students Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre, Madisyn Baldwin, and Justin Shilling were killed in the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting and several other people were injured.
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The teen was sentenced in December 2023 to life in prison without the chance of parole after pleading guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree murder and terrorism.
His lawyers sought to start over because they claim the shooter had poor mental health when he pleaded guilty as a 16-year-old. He’s now an adult.
In the shooter’s 157-page application for Leave to Appeal, they requested a leave to appeal, reverse his life sentence, grant an opportunity for plea withdrawal, a remand to circuit court for a new resentencing or remand for an evidentiary hearing.
In the application, the defense argues that the trial had several errors, the shooter had “critical trial rights waived by entering a guilty plea,” and that it was unconstitutional to sentence him to life without parole because he’s a juvenile who might have a mental illness. The application alleges that trial counsel failed to investigate possible fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and other potential cognitive-adaptive issues.
Background: Judge denies Oxford High School shooter’s motion to withdraw plea, requests for resentencing
In the Court of Appeal’s 41-page answer to the application, officials said trial counsel was not ineffective for not pursuing a defense “that was not supported by the facts or the law,” and that such things “would not have made a difference in the defendant’s sentencing.” The response argues that a “diminished capacity defence” is contrary to the shooter’s sworn testimony and that he can’t document “deficient performance.”
It goes on to say that the defense speculated that the shooter may have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, but added that a diagnosis doesn’t bar a life sentence and that it doesn’t even bar the death penalty and that nothing brought up in the application “would have made any difference in his sentence.”
In an order signed by Judge Randy J. Wallace, the application for leave to appeal was denied “for lack of merit,” and the motion to remand was denied.
“The shooter had his day in court. A judge weighed the severity of his crimes and rendered a fair sentence,” said Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. “This tragedy was completely avoidable. As Judge Kwame Rowe said at sentencing, the shooter had multiple opportunities to make different decisions. He did not. His parents, too, had multiple opportunities to prevent the shooting. They did not.”
