On November 30, 2021, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley loaded a gun into his backpack, went to Oxford High School in Michigan and shot and killed four of his classmates.
The semi-automatic handgun he used was bought with the help of his parents as an early Christmas present.
James Crumbley, 47, and his wife Jennifer Crumbley, 45, now face four counts of involuntary manslaughter each.
In what NBC news calls “a rare attempt to hold parents of a school shooter criminally responsible,” the Crumbleys will be tried separately. Jury selection will begin Tuesday in Oakland County.
It is not clear whether the separate trials of the parents will be held simultaneously or one after the other. If one trial follows the other, it is also unknown which parent would go first. If convicted, each faces up to 15 years in prison and a $7,500 fine per charge.
Jeffrey Swartz, a former Florida county judge and professor at Cooley Law School, predicts that parents won't waste time blaming each other for their son's fatal actions.
“The Crumbleys will not contest that their son was guilty,” Swartz told NBX News. “If I'm projecting in this particular case, each parent will point the finger at the other. Who knew about Ethan's problems, who was responsible for hiding and securing the gun?”
If the trials are held back-to-back, the parent who is tried second will have the advantage, Swartz said, because his defense attorney will have the ability to analyze what worked and what didn't work in the first trial.
How BizPac Review It was reported that Ethan, now 17, was charged as an adult. He pleaded guilty to the numerous charges against him, including terrorism and first degree murder. He is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
“I'm a very bad person,” Ethan told the judge at his sentencing. “I've done terrible things that no one should ever have to do. I've lied and I'm untrustworthy. I've hurt a lot of people.”
'I'm a bad person': Michigan school shooter addresses court before sentencing https://t.co/Xvfc8HDK6w road @BIZPACRevision
— Based on BPR (@DumpstrFireNews) December 9, 2023
According to NBC News, “The involuntary manslaughter charge depends on the prosecution convincing a jury that each parent played a role in the deaths and that they were the result of wrongful negligence, even though neither fathers intended for people to die.”
It was James Crumbley who bought the 9mm Sig Sauer for his son the day after Thanksgiving in 2021, prosecutors said. But when Oxford High School officials called Crumbley's home three days later to say a teacher saw Ethan, then a sophomore, looking for ammunition on the Internet, it was his mother who ignored the call.
“Lol. I'm not mad at you,” Jennifer texted Ethan. “You have to learn not to get caught.”
According to authorities, it was that night that Ethan recorded a video of himself planning the attack on the school.
NBC News reports:
The next day, a teacher said she found a note on her desk with a drawing of a gun and a person being shot, and messages that included: “The thoughts won't stop. Help me.” Ethan Crumbley was sent to meet with a school counselor and explained that the drawing was done as part of a video game design, school officials said. But his parents were summoned to a meeting that very day; Counselors watching him later would say they didn't think he would start doing any violence based on his behavior.
School officials said the Crumbleys were told at the meeting that they must receive counseling within 48 hours or the school would contact Child Protective Services. The parents declined a request to take their son home, prosecutors said, and officials allowed him to remain at school.
Ethan would go on to kill his classmates, Madisyn Baldwin, 17 years old; Tate Myre, 16; Hana Santa Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17.
MI school shooter Ethan Crumbley shows 'sporadic and disturbing behavior' ahead of July sentencing https://t.co/cSkcgCMg59 road @BIZPACRevision
— Based on BPR (@DumpstrFireNews) June 25, 2023
It was James who called 911 when news broke of the deadly attack. She told authorities she believed her son might be the shooter.
Neither James nor Jennifer mentioned Ethan's newly purchased gun when they were told about the drawing, an omission that, days later, Oakland County District Attorney Karen McDonald would call “inconceivable.”
“The idea that a parent could read these words and also know that their child had access to a deadly weapon, which was given to him, is unconscionable and I think it's criminal,” McDonald said during a press conference.
According to Swartz, it will be difficult to prove that the Crumbleys were negligent in allowing their son access to the gun.
Whether the gun was locked or not, a fact that has been disputed by Ethan, is irrelevant, as Michigan law requiring gun owners with minors in the home to store firearms in a locked safe does not it did not come into force until this year, much later. the deadly frenzy of the teenager.
“To be guilty of involuntary manslaughter, you have to show that there was a legal duty that was breached,” Swartz said. “Where was his legal duty?”
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