PONTIAC, Mich. — Teenager Ethan Crumbley plans to pursue an insanity defense for his alleged role in the Oxford High School mass shooting that killed four students and wounded seven others.
One of Crumbley's attorneys, Paulette Michel Loftin, filed a one-sentence notification Thursday to Oakland County Circuit Judge Kwame Rowe and county Prosecutor Karen McDonald: "Please take notice that ... Ethan Crumbley intends to assert the defense of insanity at the time of the alleged offense."
"This is the first step in a long legal road," Loftin told The Detroit News on Thursday. "I expect he will be referred to a state forensic center for an evaluation this afternoon. But due to COVID, he will likely be at the end of a long line of people, and it could be some time before he actually is evaluated by a doctor. And that will likely be done by a Zoom meeting over the internet."
People who are believed to be mentally ill are routinely referred to a state forensic center for tests of either mental competency or criminal responsibility. Or both. An examination could take several hours and could be repeated, Loftin said.
Loftin said she and fellow defense attorney Amy Hopp believe Crumbley is mentally competent, meaning he has the ability to understand the charges against him and assist in his defense. But whether he was criminally responsible at the time of the alleged shooting — specifically whether he had the ability to conform his actions to the law or knew the difference between right and wrong — is expected to be an issue in his prosecution, she said.
Crumbley, 15, is being charged as an adult and is facing 24 criminal counts, including for terrorism and first-degree murder.
Videos found on Crumbley's phone, drawings and a journal all have signs he envisioned killing or injuring others at school, felt out of control and couldn't stop voices in his head, according to authorities. He also wrote he needed someone to stop him.
"Depending on the finding of criminal responsibility, the prosecutor may object and seek a second independent opinion," Loftin said. "And we have the same option if he is viewed as criminally responsible.
"It may come down to a battle of experts and which one the judge or the jury believes."
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald dug in on her belief Crumbley's mental state poses no challenges by filing a court brief late Thursday to the attention of Judge Rowe and Loftin of "intent to rebut" any claimed defense of insanity. McDonald indicated she might amend the prosecutor's list of additional witnesses to include any and all witnesses who interacted with Crumbley at the Center for Forensic Psychiatry; at the Oakland County Jail and Children's Village, where he was initially held.
A judge or jury has four possible verdicts when the legal insanity defense is properly raised: not guilty; not guilty by reason of insanity; guilty but mentally ill; and guilty.
Whenever a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity is allowed, by Michigan law, a verdict of guilty but mentally ill also must be given. Sentencings in both cases normally involve placement in a secure hospital setting for treatment until the person is deemed not to pose a threat to themselves or others.
According to state law, Crumbley's lawyers would need to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he lacked "substantial capacity either to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his or her conduct or to conform his or her conduct to the requirements of the law." Testing could reveal whether Crumbley was suffering from mental illness or an intellectual disability.
Trying to get Crumbly declared insane will be an "uphill battle," said William Amadeo of McManus and Amadeo in Ann Arbor, a defense attorney with a history of defending people with mental health issues.
Amadeo said it's exceedingly rare for Michigan defendants to be found incompetent to stand trial, let alone not guilty by reason of insanity.
If the state forensic center determines that a defendant is competent to stand trial, and criminally responsible for understanding the nature and quality of their actions, then the defendant's attorneys can request an independent mental health examination.
"The lawyer is trying to show that the competency center was wrong in their analysis — so it becomes a battle of experts," he said.
In other cases where he's defended adolescents or young adults with mental illness, including some accused of crimes including murder, the defendant's actions were typically in reaction to something that happened — a momentary loss of control, committed on impulse.
That's different than a premeditated attack, Amadeo said.
"It seems like he used his intellectual ability to plan the tragedy," Amadeo said.
McDonald's decision to try Crumbley as an adult also will be a factor, the Ann Arbor lawyer observed.
"When we're talking about adults, what we're really saying is that he understood enough to be tried as an adult, and the nature of the crime was so severe that he should not reap the benefits of being a juvenile. I'm sure she considered whatever mental health issues are relevant before she ever made her charging decision."
McDonald has said she did not believe Crumbley's mental state would affect his ability to face charges.
In some such cases, parents can play an important role for the defense of a minor, providing a plethora of information about their child's past behavior that can be useful in establishing a history of mental illness. But James and Jennifer Crumbley are not expected to offer any assistance to their son's defense in this case.
The parents are each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter connected to the Oxford High shooting.
The two are represented by attorneys they hired, Mariell Lehman and Shannon Smith. Their son is represented by court-appointed attorneys for indigent defendants.
"The challenge in Crumbley's case is that maybe (James and Jennifer Crumbley) knew something, but they certainly appear more worried about themselves than about their son," Amadeo said.
He added that an insanity plea could also hurt Crumbley's chances of getting moved from the Oakland County Jail to the juvenile facility Children's Village, something his attorneys have pushed for.
"He could be deemed more of a threat to juveniles if they're saying he's incompetent," the defense attorney said. "It's a brutal case and I have respect for the defense lawyers, but they're going to have an uphill battle on this case."
A Feb. 22 in-person hearing is scheduled before Rowe over the issue of Ethan Crumbley being held in the adult jail.
Jerome Sabbota, who has been both an assistant prosecuting attorney and defense attorney in his 45 years as a lawyer, said regardless of findings, it doesn't necessarily mean that Crumbley will evade incarceration.
"He is young and a lot of people believe someone his age doesn't have a fully developed mind," Sabbota said. "If convicted of a life felony, the courts have ruled as a juvenile he cannot be locked up for life without parole. He is entitled to parole.
"And depending on whether he has actual mental disorders, it could motivate a jury to see him as guilty but mentally ill or not guilty by reason of insanity. And someone in need of help. That help might be in a mental hospital rather than a prison."
Frequent evaluations by doctors could potentially determine Crumbley presents a danger to himself or others and needs to be hospitalized and continue to receive mental health treatment and medications.
"I think filing this notice of an insanity defense reflects they know the evidence against their client is very strong," Sabbota said. "He has already waived his preliminary examination (at district court), which indicates they feel he is mentally competent."
Another looming issue in Crumbley's defense is his home environment, including two parents who bought him a handgun as a Christmas present.
The couple was called to the school on the morning of the day of the shooting to discuss inappropriate behavior by their son, including graphic drawings of a shooting victim and searching for ammunition on his phone a day earlier.
During the meeting, the Crumbleys were advised to take their son home and get him into immediate counseling. They refused, and the teen was permitted to remain in school with a backpack now believed to have contained a handgun and ammunition. Neither parent told school officials their son ever had access to a weapon, which both believed was secured in a bedroom at home, according to a court filing.
Attorney Ven Johnson, who is representing the parents of slain student Tate Myre and other parents whose children experienced the shooting, said he doubted whether an insanity defense would work.
He cited the drawings, the attempts to cover up the drawings, along with months of social media activity before the shooting, including an Instagram post of Crumbley's 9 mm Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun, two weeks prior to the shooting, with a message that read: "This is the gun I'm going to use."
"Notice, I haven't called him insane once," Johnson said. "He knew what he was doing."
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(Staff Writers Robert Snell and James David Dickson contributed.)
