Ethan Crumbley's Miller Hearing resumes • 79K still without power • Siblings charged in $3.5M COVID fraud

FRIDAY NEWS HIT - Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley will be back in court on Friday for the second day of his Miller Hearing, which will determine if the teenager will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Crumbley, now 16, will return to court on Friday for the second day of the hearing. It's being argued in Oakland County Judge Kwame Rowe's courtroom. The Miller hearing is necessary because of a 2012 Supreme Court ruling that prevents automatic life sentencing for minors.

Thursday's hearing was full of gripping testimony from police and a heartbreaking afternoon witness in former Oxford High School teacher Molly Darnell, who was the teacher who was hurt on Nov. 30, 2021.

"He was aiming to kill me," she said, while revealing she had only seen photos of the crime scene a week ago and realized he was trying to kill her with three shots through her classroom door. "The top shot was intended for my head and the two bottom shots were intended for my chest."

Crumbley's attorney argue that the court must consider everything – including his age, environment, circumstances of the crimes, and the possibility of rehabilitation.

"Experts and witnesses that will come before you will not give you an excuse for Ethan’s actions. They will give you an explanation for how Ethan ended up with a gun in his hand on Nov. 30, 2021," she said. "At the end of the hearing, we will be asking for a term of years bc it will be clear to you that Ethan Crumbley is not one of those rare juveniles that is irreparably corrupt and without the ability to be rehabilitated."

Friday's hearing resumes at 8:30 a.m. You can watch it on this link when it starts.

Day one of the hearing was Thursday, which included graphic testimony and information at times – including statements made by Crumbley just hours before the shooting where he recorded himself saying he would be the next school shooter.

Crumbley looked up torture site on jail tablet 3 months after guilty plea

Crumbley, who pleaded guilty in October to killing four students, has been in custody at the Oakland County Jail since November 2021. Three months after his guilty plea, it was revealed during Friday's hearing that he had found a way to unlock the jail-issued tablet intended to help him get his GED and utilize it to access a torture website.

Oakland County Sheriff Lt. Tim Willis testified for several hours on Thursday. Throughout his time in the witness stand, he detailed Crumbley's journal, text messages, his knowledge of guns, and internet searches prior to the shooting.

"He was given a tablet to use (to get his) GED (and) there are several reasons they're allowed to use it for. He was allowed to access the internet and he immediately went to a website that we know to be about real death, killings," Willis said.

During cross-examination, it was revealed that the password had been saved on the device.

"On the tablet, you had to go into the settings and search for the password. But yes, from what I understand, it was saved," Willis said.

His attorney, Paulette Loftin, said Crumbley fully admitted to his actions and specifically how he found the password and had it unlocked for two weeks before he was caught.

Det. Edward Wagrowski testified later that Crumbley visited that same site hundreds of times before the shooting on Nov. 30, 2021 and again while in the Oakland County Jail.

Power restored for thousands in Metro Detroit

Wednesday night's storms have had a lasting effect for thousands of residents in Metro Detroit. Late Thursday night, more than 150,000 DTE customers were without power.

Overnight, power had been restored for about half of those residents with a total of 79,000 still in the dark, as of 6 a.m.

Stay at least 20 feet from downed wires. Do not touch the power lines or use an object to touch them. Do not drive over downed wires. Also, avoid touching anything the wire touches, such as a fence or a puddle.

Michigan siblings charged in $3.5M COVID fraud

A brother and sister from Southfield have been charged, along with two neighbors, in a massive fraud ring that spanned 7 states and totaled over $3.5 million.

Kenny Lee Howard III, 30, Keila Lanae Howard, 34, David Christopher Davis, 25, and Stevenvan Eugene Ware, 30 were all charged with in federal court for their alleged role in the scheme to take unemployment funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal authorities said the Howard siblings found ways to claim millions in COVID-19 unemployment funds and then helped Davis and Ware to do the same as well.

Officials investigated and found five different claims matching his identity in three states, including an address in Southfield, one in Pennsylvania, and two in California. They all were linked back to an IP address at a home in Southfield listed as hi home address.

Authorities kept digging and found 159 additional claims in seven different states: 31 in Arizona, 85 in California, one in Guam, 17 in Michigan, 7 in New York, 19 in Pennsylvania, and 1 in Tennessee. Of those, 79 of them utilized the number sequence "1226" in the email address on the claims and many of the claims were made with the victim's real names and information.

6-year-old gives heartfelt kindergarten tribute to mom killed in fire

Jaxon Carter is interested in the same things most 6-year-olds are. But in his short life, he's already been through a lot – the biggest being the loss of his mother in a fire last summer.

Jaxon would have been there with her — but on that particular night, he was with his father.

"Every time when she comes, she picks me up and gives me a hug," he said.

It is just one of the memories engrained in Jaxon’s mind.

At the end of kindergarten in June, he gave a very special speech dedicated to his mom – thanks to the help of his grandmother. 

"I was a little 5-year-old who lost my beautiful mother," he said in the speech. "Be kind, share with others, and dream big.

"I dedicate my speech, good grades, kindergarten graduation to my beautiful mommy, who I will always love and miss her so much. I know she will always be with me in my heart."

He kept his speech secret from everyone – including his dad. 

Live on FOX 2

Daily Forecast

Hot and muggy on Friday with temperatures in the low 90s, bringing a potential of severe weather later in the day.

What else we're watching

1. Memorial being built to honor Wynter Cole Smith - the East Lansing girl who was kidnapped and killed last month – but not all neighbors are happy about it
2. A woman charged with killing her father by throwing lye powder on him has been released and shared her story with FOX 2 
3. Storm damage cleanup continues across Metro Detroit - specifically in Grosse Pointe, Redford, and Southfield
4. Pastor sentenced on Thursday for killing a transgender woman five years ago in Detroit
5. Need weekend plans? Check out our things to do guide.

Former President Donald Trump faces more charges in classified docs case

Former President Donald Trump faced new charges Thursday in a case accusing him of illegally possessing classified documents, with prosecutors alleging that he asked a staffer to delete camera footage at his Florida estate in an effort to obstruct a federal investigation into the records.

The indictment includes new counts of obstruction and willful retention of national defense information, adding fresh detail to an indictment issued last month against Trump and a close aide. The additional charges came as a surprise at a time of escalating anticipation of a possible additional indictment in Washington over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The updated allegations make clear the vast — and unknown — scope of legal exposure faced by Trump as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024 while fending off criminal cases in multiple cities.

Read more here.

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