The Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear legal arguments regarding the 2021 Oxford High School mass shooting, ending efforts at seeking accountability.
Immunity under Michigan law is a difficult obstacle to overcome, particularly in lawsuits against a government body, which includes public school staff. Typically, lawyers have to show that gross negligence occurred during a particular incident.
Michigan School Mass Shooting Civil Cases
The court in question said in a two-sentence order that it would not be taking the case, which means that a 3-0 decision by a Court of Appeals in favor of school employees will stand. William "Buck" Myre, the father of one victim, said he was shocked by the state Supreme Court's decision.
He said he could not believe that such a tragic incident is something that the government could just sweep under the rug and say, "Sorry for your loss." An Appeals court said in September last year that there was no evidence the Oxford school staff were the 'proximate cause" of the incident, according to the Associated Press.
The appeals court noted that the main suspect in the case was 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who was said to have "made the definite and premeditated decision" to bring a gun to school and commit the deadly mass shooting.
Authorities noted that on the day of the shooting, Crumbley drew images of a gun, a bullet, and a wounded man on a math paper. This sketch was accompanied by despondent phrases and his parents were quickly called into a meeting to address the issue and bring their son home.
A Lack of Evidence
The justices said in their order that the court was not persuaded that the issues raised by families and their attorneys should be reviewed by the Michigan Supreme Court. In lower courts, the attorneys argued that the state's Governmental Tort Liability Act has been unconstitutionally protecting Oxford Public Schools and its employees from civil liability, the Michigan Advance reported.
Myre argued that the government should not be immune from accountability when a tragic incident occurs. He added that authorities should make every effort to analyze what the school failed to do and how the lives of his son and other victims could have been saved.
An attorney representing the families in the case, Ven Johnson, criticized the state's governmental immunity laws during a news conference. They argued that a report by Guidepost Solutions, a third party, shed more light on the alleged negligence of school staff in handling Crumbley weeks before the shooting, as per the Detroit Free Press.
