Accused Michigan school shooter appears in virtual court, will stay in adult jail
His lawyers argued he was not a threat to other young people and should be held at a youth facility
The Michigan teenager charged in the deadliest US school shooting of 2021 calmly answered questions via video link on Monday during a hearing in which his lawyers unsuccessfully pleaded with the judge to move him from a facility where he is being jailed with adults.
Ethan Crumbley, 15, blinked occasionally behind glasses and over a white face mask during the Oakland County criminal court procedural hearing as his lawyers said his mental, physical and emotional health was not best served by holding him in the county's adult jail, although he is isolated from other inmates.
His lawyers also argued he was not a threat to other young people and should be held at a youth facility.
Oakland County assistant prosecutor Marc Keast told Judge Nancy Carniak that video evidence showed Crumbley was responsible for the Nov. 30 shooting that killed four students and seriously wounded six others and a teacher at Oxford High School in suburban Oakland County, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Detroit. Crumbley has pleaded not guilty.
Keast said he could not imagine putting Crumbley, who has been charged as an adult and is being held without bond, in a juvenile facility.