Oxford School shooter’s request to withdraw guilty plea violated court rules, judge says

OAKLAND CO., MI (WNEM) – An Oakland County judge said a request to revoke the Oxford High School shooter’s guilty plea and have him resentenced violated court rules.

In December 2023, Ethan Crumbley was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to the school shooting that killed four students and injured seven others.

Related: Oxford school shooter sentenced to life without parole

“The defendant’s motion to correct the invalid sentence is 59 pages long, counsel was not authorized by the court to exceed the 20 page limit,” Judge Kwame Rowe said. “Same problem with defendant’s request to withdraw his plea, counsel failed to notice their requests to exceed the page limit even though they had six months before filing their briefs.”

In its motions, the appeals office requested that the case be heard in June 2025, one year after the initial brief was filed.

The judge noted that there is a six-month deadline for filing appeals, and accused the lawyers of trying to extend that deadline without the court’s permission.

“Rather than grant the requests, as this court was strongly inclined to do … the court will prefer to decide the substance of the requests,” Rowe said.

Rowe said the prosecutor’s office must respond to the requests by Nov. 19, followed by a written opinion from the court.

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