DETROIT — Accused Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley plans to plead insanity in the criminal case accusing him of killing four students and wounding six others and a teacher during a Nov. 30 attack, according to a court filing Thursday.
Crumbley, 15, a sophomore at the high school, has pleaded not guilty to accusations he committed the nation's deadliest school shooting since 2018.
A one-sentence notice of insanity defense was filed early Thursday in Oakland Circuit Court, signed by defense attorneys Paulette Michel Loftin and Amy Hopp. Neither has returned telephone calls.
"Please take notice that pursuant to MCL 769.20a the defendant Ethan Crumbley intends to assert the defense of insanity at the time of the alleged offense and gives his notice of his intention to claim such a defense," reads a copy of the filing, obtained by The Detroit News.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald was also sent notice, according to the filing, which is assigned to Judge Kwame Rowe.
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.
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