The judge in the case of Ethan Crumbley, the Michigan high schooler who has pleaded guilty to gunning down four classmates and injuring seven other people in 2021, has denied his attorneys request to bar blurred photos of his victims’ bodies from open court at an upcoming hearing.

Oakland County Judge Kwame Rowe also denied a request to bar security footage of the November 30, 2021, shooting at Oxford High School but said that if prosecutors want to show a video of Crumbley torturing a bird, he’ll view it privately since he has already seen it, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Rowe will be determining whether life without parole is an appropriate sentence for Crumbley at the upcoming Miller hearing.

Earlier this week, Rowe refused a defense request to take life without parole off the table and has agreed to allow school eyewitnesses to testify, which the defense opposed.

The Miller hearing, set for July 27, is required since both the US and Michigan Supreme Courts have ruled that life without parole for a juvenile — Crumbley was 15 at the time of the murders — is unconstitutional without consideration of factors such as Crumbley’s mental and emotional development, his home life and character, his record while incarcerated, and the circumstances of the crime.

Crumbley’s attorneys accused the prosecution of trying to “shock the court” with the photos and video and suggested that the judge view all of it privately. The judge disagreed, except for the bird video.

“The court notes the sensitive nature of the crime scene footage and photos and its impact it may have on victims and/or their family. The court is not insensitive to this impact,” Rowe wrote in his opinion. “However, the court has not been provided any legal authority to suggest that this evidence, which this court has never seen before, should be reviewed (privately) and not in open court.”

Crumbley admitted last October to carrying out the school massacre with a gun his parents bought him, as CrimeOnline reported. James and Jennifer Crumbley have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and are trying to have the charges against them blocked. That case is pending before the Michigan Supreme Court.

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[Featured image: Ethan Crumbley in court/(Clarence Tabb Jr./Detroit News via AP)]