The 15-year-old accused in the deadly mass shooting at his suburban Detroit high school in November should be kept in adult jail as he awaits trial, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Kelly Collins said during a hearing about the teenager’s confinement that he’s demonstrated he can be calculating, has a desire to be remembered for his alleged crimes, and enjoys the notoriety the case has brought him, including email from women.
“How to do I get my fan mail, how do I get my hate mail”? he has said, according to Collins.
He has “a deeper and more calculated mind than any other 15-year-old,” she argued in court.
The teenager’s defense team formally asked the court that he be transferred from Oakland County jail to Children’s Village in Pontiac.
Collins said the teen already killed four classmates at Oxford High School on Nov. 30 and that teenagers at the juvenile facility would be put in danger that is “contrary to the rehabilitation of those at Children’s Village.”
“He enjoyed his dark side,” Collins said. “He’s fascinated with violence.”
The teenager’s defense team said he’s hardly been in direct contact with anyone, except his lawyers, since he’s been in jail, despite a possible need for psychiatric supervision.
“The jail is not equipped with handling juveniles,” attorney Paulette Loftin said during the hearing.
She said he was removed from “constant watch” in jail. His lawyers indicated in a court filing they plan to pursue an insanity defense.
Because the defendant had no prior criminal or disciplinary school record to speak of, Loftin said, he should be allowed to wait for trial in the children’s facility with defendants his age.
Loftin argued that because many of the people sending him email are women, such communication could be better supervised if he was held at Children’s Village.
“These are emails from strangers all around the world,” Loftin said. “At Children’s Village we are able to control that communication.”
Loftin did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.
Judge Kwame Rowe said he would make a decision in the upcoming days.
The suspect, Ethan Crumbley, has pleaded not guilty to two dozen charges, including murder. His parents are also being jailed on four counts each of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.