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."
