A state House committee voted Wednesday to advance legislation to blunt the impact of a Michigan Supreme Court decision on automatic life-without-parole sentences for young adults.

The bills could allow for longer sentences for 19- and 20-year-olds convicted of first-degree and felony murder, among other serious crimes, and allow prosecutors more time to review cases for potential resentencing.

“Life without parole was not given out lightly to begin with,” said Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and sponsored the bills. “You have to remember these people are murderers.”

The court ruling released in April struck down automatic life without parole for 19- and 20-year-olds convicted of first-degree and felony murder as unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment. It followed a similar ruling applying to defendants 18 years old and younger.

Now, people who already got mandatory life sentences are being resentenced. Sometimes, that will be to multiple shorter prison terms. The current default in Michigan is for sentences to be served concurrently.

Lightner said concurrent prison terms are not tough enough. “There’s only justice given to the first victim,” she told Michigan Public Radio. “There’s nothing in law that says you have to stack the sentences consecutively, because we have concurrent sentencing.”

Consecutive years-long sentences would effectively be life in prison in some cases.

Deborah LaBelle, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan said the Michigan Supreme Court decision is clear on young lifers. She said sentences of life with no chance of parole for young defendants should be rare.

“They should, when they have had the opportunity to mature and grow, be looked at again and determined whether in fact they have been rehabilitated and should be able to at some point rejoin the community,” she said.

LaBelle says the legislation would probably be found unconstitutional if signed into law because it would force consecutive sentences automatically without court hearings.

The bills, which now go to the House floor, were adopted on party-line votes.

The mother of the Oxford High School shooter has asked to be released from prison while she appeals her involuntary manslaughter convictions. The attorney for Jennifer Crumbley filed the request this week with the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Her attorney argues that Crumbley should not be forced to remain prison while the legalities of the first-of-its-kind case are sorted out.

“At present, Mrs. Crumbley has been incarcerated for over three-and-a-half years,” says the filing dated Tuesday. “She should not be forced to serve additional years of incarceration before the appellate courts can decide, with finality, her dispositive and substantial legal questions of first impression which may result in her convictions being vacated.”  

Michael Dezsi, Crumbley’s attorney, told the Michigan Public Radio Network that Crumbley does not pose a threat if she is released on bond.

“The other thing that she has to prove in order to get a bond on appeal is that she has a substantial issue of law or fact and I don’t think anybody can deny that Mrs. Crumbley has a substantial question of law that she is presenting on appeal, namely which is did she even commit a crime in the first place,” he said.

Dezsi said the state’s manslaughter statute has never been used in this way to level charges against the parent of a murderer.

“They were different from anything we’ve ever seen before and it is our position that there certainly is no law in Michigan that allows for the prosecution to charge her for the intentional criminal acts of a third person, whether that be her son or somebody else,” he said.

Last week, an Oakland County judge denied the requests of Jennifer Crumbley and her husband, James, for new trials. Judge Cheryl Matthews held the Crumbleys received fair trials, although the prosecution should have shared details of some witness agreements.

Crumbley’s son is serving a life-without-parole sentence for the 2021 school shooting that killed four students and injured seven people. A jury convicted Jennifer and James Crumbley of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors argued they failed to address clear signs their son was spiraling toward violence.

A spokesperson for Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said her office opposes releasing Jennifer Crumbley in part because she would be a flight risk.

“A jury convicted Jennifer Crumbley for her actions that led to the deaths of Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre, Madisyn Baldwin, and Justin Shilling. That verdict was upheld after careful review by the Circuit Court,” said spokesperson Jeff Wattrick in an email. “Bond has been denied multiple times previously because Mrs. Crumbley was, and remains, a flight risk with no known ties to the community and a past attempt to conceal her whereabouts. The interests of justice are served by again denying bond so she can continue serving her sentence.”

Deszi said he expects the Court of Appeals to rule quickly on his motion. The court will also have to rule on whether to hear the appeal. He said whichever side loses will almost certainly take the case to the Michigan Supreme Court.