Michigan court ends effort to sue Oxford school staff over 2021 mass shooting
DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed appeals by families of students killed or wounded at Oxford High School in 2021, ending efforts to hold employees partly responsible for the mass shooting.
Under Michigan law, immunity is a high hurdle to overcome in lawsuits against a government body, including public school staff. Lawyers typically have to show that gross negligence occurred.
The court, in a two-sentence order, said it would not step into the litigation. The decision means a 3-0 Court of Appeals decision in favor of school employees will stand.
A lawyer for the families said he would speak at an afternoon news conference.
The appeals court in September said there was no evidence that Oxford staff were the 'proximate cause' of the tragedy, noting it was 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley who 'made the definite and premeditated decision' to take a gun to school, kill four students and wound seven other people.
Before the shooting, he sketched images of a gun, a bullet and a wounded man on a math paper, accompanied by despondent phrases. His parents were quickly called to a meeting at school but declined to take him home.
No one — parents or staff — checked the boy's backpack for a gun, though an administrator joked that it was heavy.
Crumbley, now 19, is serving a life prison sentence. His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are each serving 10-year sentences for involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said they had ignored his mental health needs, bought him a gun as a gift and then failed to safely secure it.
___
Follow Ed White at https://twitter.com/edwritez
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
31 minutes ago
- Fox News
Federal judge approves $2.8B settlement allowing schools to directly pay college athletes
A federal judge granted final approval on Friday to the $2.8 billion settlement that will allow colleges and universities to begin paying athletes directly. Judge Claudia Wilken approved the settlement on Friday that will allow schools to pay their athletes next month. The sweeping terms of the so-called House settlement include approval for each school to share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion that will be paid over the next decade to thousands of former players who were barred from that revenue for years. Payouts will be determined based on the sport and the length of athletic career, with most football and men's basketball players able to receive nearly $135,000 each. However, the highest estimated payout is expected to be nearly $2 million, thanks to "Lost NIL Opportunities," according to the law firm. Nearly five years after Arizona State swimmer Grant House sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences to lift restrictions on revenue sharing, Wilken approved the final proposal that had been hung up on roster limits, just one of many changes ahead amid concerns that thousands of walk-on athletes will lose their chance to play college sports. The deal covers three antitrust cases — including the class-action lawsuit known as House vs. the NCAA — that challenged NCAA compensation rules dating back to 2016. The plaintiffs claimed that NCAA rules denied thousands of athletes the opportunity to earn millions of dollars off the use of their names, images and likenesses. The NCAA lifted its ban on athletes earning money through endorsement and sponsorship deals in 2021. At one point, President Donald Trump was considering an executive order to regulate name, image and likeness in college sports after meeting with legendary Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban, the Wall Street Journal reported. On Fox News last year, Saban urged Congress to step in and make NIL "equal across the board." "And I think that should still exist for all players, but not just a pay-for-play system like we have now where whoever raises the most money in their collective can pay the most for the players, which is not a level playing field. I think in any competitive venue, you want to have some guidelines that gives everyone an equal opportunity to have a chance to be successful," he said. The settlement also called for a clearinghouse to make sure any NIL deal worth more than $600 is pegged at fair market value in an attempt to thwart supposed pay-for-play deals. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
CNN
43 minutes ago
- CNN
Seattle man charged with string of burglaries at the homes of NFL and MLB stars
A Seattle man was charged Friday with a string of burglaries at the homes of prominent current and former football and baseball players, marking the latest example of well-known athletes being targeted in home thefts. Earl Henderson Riley IV, 21, was charged with several counts of residential burglary in both occupied and unoccupied homes, along with first-degree robbery, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Prosecutors say Riley was the ringleader in a series of burglaries that started in February and involved stealing more than $6,000 in Louis Vuitton bags from Seattle Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo's home and over $194,000 in high end purses and jewelry from the home of the team's center fielder Julio Rodriguez. The thefts also involved taking several watches worth more than $100,000 from former Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman's home and a burglary at the home of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell, who is from Washington, although nothing was stolen in that instance, according to court documents. Prosecutors say there was also an attempted burglary at baseball Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez's home. 'All people deserve to feel safe in their homes, and our office will continue to hold people accountable for criminal behavior,' King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said in a statement. There have been a slew of burglaries at the homes of well-known professional athletes across the US in recent months. The players have been targeted because of the high-end products believed to be in their homes and sometimes the thefts happen when they are away with their teams for road games. The FBI has warned sports leagues about crime organizations targeting professional athletes. The NFL and NBA have also issued security alerts after burglaries at the homes of such star athletes as Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. In a memo obtained by The Associated Press in November, the NFL said the homes of professional athletes across multiple sports have become 'increasingly targeted for burglaries by organized and skilled groups.' Riley is being held in the King County Jail on $1 million bail. It was not immediately clear whether he has a lawyer. The King County Department of Public Defense did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press and a spokesperson from the prosecuting attorney's office did not know whether Riley had a lawyer. The charges were the result of a monthslong investigation in which the county's prosecuting attorney's office worked with six police jurisdictions. Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Gary Ernsdorff said in a statement that their work is not over. 'We still want to go and identify everybody who was involved and see if there are additional people that we can have sufficient evidence to charge,' he said. Riley is expected to enter his initial plea in court during his arraignment June 16. He has another pending case in King County Superior Court in which he is charged with attempting to elude a pursuing police vehicle and unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree.
Yahoo
44 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What the Trump-Musk Feud Means for SpaceX and NASA
The U.S. government relies on SpaceX to support NASA and other agencies, and the company has received more $20 billion in federal contracts for it. As Musk and Trump threaten to cut ties, here's what that would mean for the U.S.'s space ambitions.
