Day two of the high-stakes court hearing for the Oxford High School shooter started Friday morning and lasted well into the afternoon
This pre-sentencing Miller hearing will determine if a judge can sentence the shooter to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
During the first part of Friday's hearing, the judge heard from deputies, victims, and the assistant principal at the high school, Kristy Gibson-Marshall.
In her harrowing testimony, Gibson-Marshall recalls hearing gunshots, smelling gun powder, seeing the shooter and a victim.
"I kept walking towards him. I needed to help," Gibson-Marshall said about seeing the shooter. "There was a student on the ground."
“I rolled the student over and it was Tate Myre. I’ve known him since he was three. It was crushing. I had to hold him and save him for his mom,” she revealed while holding back tears.
Gibson-Marshall says she frantically began CPR and begged Myre to stay with her as another person helped her remove the backpack he was wearing at the time of the shooting.
“I could see the bullet exited through his eye, and an exit would at the back of his head. I started to take his pulse and check his vitals,” she recounted.
“I was telling them to keep giving breaths, he needs air. So much blood (breaking down). It was all over me, and it took months to get the taste of his blood out of my mouth.”
Nearly a dozen Oakland County deputies were seen crying during Gibson-Marshall's testimony in court Friday.
Defense attorneys are arguing that the gunman can be rehabilitated in prison. They said the shooting followed years of a turbulent family life, grossly negligent parents and untreated mental illness.
A former warden, Ken Romanowski, testified about a variety of programs available in prison, such as mental health therapy, anger management, education and trade skills.
“Honestly, I think everybody has the potential for change. But he has to be the one who makes that choice,” Romanowski said, appearing for the defense.
The Miller hearing started on Thursday. That first day was a deep dive into the shooter's journal entries, detailing how he wanted to carry out the school shooting.
"I want to shoot up the f****** school so badly," he wrote in one of his entries.
The educator who was injured in the shooting, Molly Darnell, also took the witness stand on Thursday, explaining what happened on Nov. 30, 2021, after she locked eyes with the shooter before being shot.
"He was aiming to kill me," said Darnell.
She detailed her first thought when she saw the shooter with the gun outside her door, saying she realized there was no orange tip and that the threat was real.
When he fired the shots, she said they were physically loud and that she "could feel them coming through that door."
This week, the “All For Oxford Resiliency Center," a program of Common Ground, is offering therapy dogs and extra support.
Their hours will be 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to help process emotions. Food will also be provided at their location. The address is 1370 S. Lapeer Road in Oxford.
The Miller hearing will continue on Tuesday at 8 a.m.
The Associated Press contributed to this report .
