The parents of the Michigan school shooter will be punished in a unique US case.
April 9 (Reuters) The parents of a Michigan child who shot and killed four classmates are scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday after jurors found them guilty of manslaughter, a rare instance of parents being held liable in a school shooting.
Jennifer and James Crumbley, who were tried separately this year, face up to 15 years in jail for their son Ethan’s 2021 shooting.
Ethan Crumbley was 15 when the incident occurred at Oxford High School. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and other crimes, and in December, he was sentenced to life without parole.
Prosecutors in the trials of Jennifer Crumbley, 46, and James Crumbley, 47, charged the parents with criminal negligence for giving their kid a pistol as a Christmas present and disregarding signals that his mental health had deteriorated and that he was possibly dangerous.
The parents’ defense teams contended, among other things, that it was inconceivable for the mother and father to imagine their son carrying out a mass killing.
The United States, a country plagued by gun violence, has seen a string of school shootings in recent years, many of which were carried out by current or former students. The Crumbleys were the first parents to face manslaughter charges in connection with a school shooting involving their child.
The criminal allegations brought against the Crumbleys have few precedents in the United States.
Experts and gun safety activists said the trials were a crucial step toward making gun-owning parents more responsible for their children’s classroom violence. According to studies conducted by the United States Department of Homeland Security, around 75% of all school shooters received their firearms at home.
James Crumbley bought the 9mm semi-automatic weapon as a Christmas present for Ethan just four days before the November 30, 2021, incident.
According to authorities, on the morning of the rampage, both of Ethan’s parents were brought to their son’s school after instructors discovered violent remarks and drawings on his papers.
The Crumbleys were instructed that Ethan required immediate therapy. However, prosecutors claimed the parents refused, bringing the youngster home that day without searching his backpack or asking him about the pistol they knew he had access to.
