The convicted Oxford High School shooter is in jail, waiting to be sentenced for the 24 felonies he pleaded guilty to last year. But when, exactly, will his sentence be handed down?
Sentencing will take a little longer than usual in this particular case because the shooter is a minor.
The Oxford High School shooter was 15 years old when he opened fire on Nov. 30, 2021, and murdered four students and injured seven other people. Soon after, he was charged as an adult with 24 felonies by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.
The shooter was expected to stand trial this January after initially pleading not guilty to all charges, but he changed that plea to guilty in October 2022. He has been convicted of the following crimes:
- One count of terrorism causing death;
- Four counts of first-degree murder;
- Seven counts of assault with intent to murder; and
- 12 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
It is the first time that a U.S. school shooter has been convicted of terrorism.
Now at 16 years old, the Oxford shooter is lodged at the Oakland County Jail, waiting to be sentenced. But because he is a minor who faces a life sentence without parole, the court must first hold what is called a Miller hearing before a sentence can be handed down.
What is a Miller hearing?
More than 10 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case Miller v. Alabama that mandatory life sentences without parole are unconstitutional for juveniles.
Before that hearing, Michigan law mandated that a person convicted of first-degree murder must be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. That sentence criteria also extended to some minors, or those under 18 years old, depending on the situation.
However, the ruling in the Miller case has changed how minors convicted of first-degree murder are sentenced. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Miller states that instead of automatically imposing a life sentence, a “judge or jury must have the opportunity to consider mitigating circumstances before imposing the harshest possible penalty for juveniles.”
Mitigating circumstances are defined as: “Factors that lessen the severity or culpability of a criminal act, including, but not limited to, defendant’s age or extreme mental or emotional disturbance at the time the crime was committed, mental retardation, and lack of a prior criminal record.”
Thus, when a minor is convicted of first-degree murder, a so-called Miller hearing must be held. In the case of the Oxford shooter, a judge will use the Miller hearing to consider if the shooter’s age will play a role in the sentencing, in addition to the mental health issues the shooter apparently faced.
The Michigan bar says a judge or jury will specifically consider the following factors during a Miller hearing:
- The defendant’s chronological age and its hallmark features -- among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences;
- The defendant’s family and home environment;
- The circumstances of the homicide offense, including the extent of the defendant’s participation in the conduct and the way familial and peer pressures may have affected the defendant;
- Whether the defendant might have been charged with and convicted of a lesser offense if not for incompetencies associated with youth; and
- The defendant’s possibility of rehabilitation.
The ruling in Miller v. Alabama also dictates that a prosecutor must file a motion within 21 days of the date of the minor’s conviction if the prosecutor intends to seek a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
After the Oxford shooter pleaded guilty to the 24 felony charges, the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion requesting the harshest possible sentence be issued.
When is the Oxford shooter’s Miller hearing?
A Miller hearing has been tentatively scheduled for the Oxford shooter for July 27. The date of the hearing has changed several times, and it’s unknown if the July 27 date will hold. The date was set by a judge on April 14.
At the end of the Miller hearing, the court will decide whether to sentence the minor to life without parole, or to a term of years in prison instead, the Michigan bar says. Either way, the court is required to state, on the record, the “aggravating and mitigating factors it considered in reaching its decision.”
A sentencing hearing will follow the Miller hearing, but an official date has not yet been set. It is likely the judge will schedule a sentencing hearing at the end of the Miller hearing.
It is likely the Oxford shooter will be sentenced this year, but it’s hard to say when exactly.
The parents of the shooter are also facing criminal charges in connection with the fatal mass shooting. In addition to allegedly neglecting their son and his emotional and mental health needs, as prosecutors argue, James and Jennifer Crumbley are also accused of buying their son the handgun used in the shooting.
After months of the shooter’s parents attempting to get their case thrown out, the Michigan Court of Appeals recently upheld a ruling ordering them to stand trial on the four involuntary manslaughter charges they each face. In that decision, appellate judges shared harrowing new details from text messages between the shooter and his parents, and the shooter and his friend.
More: Here’s the text message timeline between Oxford shooter, parents, friend leading up to shooting