James and Jennifer Crumbley sentenced 10-15 years jail for their son Ethan Crumbley Michigan mass school shooting which saw 4 classmates shot dead & seven others injured in a court holding the parents responsible for a ‘preventable’ crime that they had helped engender while others wonder if a legal manouever employed to get conviction opens Pandora’s Box?
The parents of a Michigan school shooter decreed as being responsible for their son’s shooting which led to four Oxford children killed were on Tuesday sentenced to 10-15 years jail.
James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of then 15 year old teen Ethan Crumbley were each sentenced to up to 15 years in prison, weeks after being convicted for manslaughter, becoming the first parents to ever serve time over a child’s school shooting in a groundbreaking decision.
A teenage son ‘callously ignored’
The estranged couple’s son Ethan was 15 when he opened fire on classmates at Oxford High School in November 2021, killing four and injuring seven others. He is currently serving life without the possibility of parole.
Tuesday’s sentencing follows the parents being convicted at separate trials in February as juries found they ‘callously’ ignored their son’s pleas for mental health help while buying him the firearm he used to massacre four classmates in 2021.
Their sentences will be served minus the near-two-and-a-half years they have already served, and they will be barred from contacting to their son’s victim’s families.
Leading into the parents’ sentencing, the parents’ attorneys had countered prosecution’s sentencing request for the maximum of 15 years by asking for less than fire years each.
The sentence was read shortly after the parents of the victims gave an impact statement of how the mass school shooting forever changed their lives.
BREAKING: A judge has sentenced James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the Oxford, Michigan, school shooter, to 10 to 15 years in prison in connection with attack carried out by their son. https://t.co/WQrSfxqTgF pic.twitter.com/9pXRHP0nJ7
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 9, 2024
‘You failed your son… You failed as parents’
Addressing the parents and the court, Nicole Beausoliel, the mother of slain Madisyn Baldwin, 17, scathed the couple as ‘failed parents.’
The parent went on to condemn the parents for a lack of remorse, as she pleaded with a judge to impose the maximum sentence of 15 years, which they ultimately received.
‘You’ve shown no remorse or respect to our family,’ the mother said. ‘The words involuntary should not be a part of your sentence.’
Her statement was followed by the mother of Justin Shilling, who echoed Beausoliel’s grief as she condemned them for not ‘cherishing or even wanting your son.’
‘But I cherished and wanted mine,’ she added. ‘You failed your son.’
‘If only they had done something,’ she said, again requesting the judge impose the maximum sentence. ‘You failed.’
A parents’ repeated lack of actions and disregard that could’ve averted tragedy
Justin’s father Craig Shilling closed his victim impact statement with a request to the room, solemnly asking other parents to ‘go home and hug your kids.’
In a request for lenient sentencing, Jennifer’s attorney said she is ‘hugely distraught and remorseful’ over the shooting.
However, Jennifer faced scrutiny when she took the stand in her own defense at trial, as she insisted she was not at fault and the blame laid with her husband, son and the school. She testified: ‘I’ve asked myself if I would have done anything differently, and I wouldn’t have.’
These words were repeated by several victim impact statements, as Reina St Juliana – the sister of victim Hana St Juliana – said she ‘couldn’t fathom’ why the mother would feel that way.
Before imposing her sentences, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews said the convictions were not about poor parenting.
‘These convictions confirm repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train, about repeatedly ignoring things that make a reasonable person feel the hair on the back of their neck stand up,’ the judge said.
‘Opportunity knocked over and over again, louder and louder and was ignored. No one’s no one answered. And these two people should have and sure didn’t.’
Matthews said James Crumbley provided ‘unfettered access to a gun or guns as well as ammunition in your home,’ while Jennifer Crumbley ‘glorified the the use and possession of these weapons.’
Before his sentencing, James Crumbley read a statement where he said his ‘heart is broken for all involved’, and he stressed that claims he had no remorse for his son’s actions were not true.
‘I know the pain and loss will never go away.’
Addressing the court, Jennifer Crumbley said her prior comments about ‘not doing anything differently’ had been ‘completely misunderstood.’
‘With the benefit of hindsight, my answer would be different. Ethan was not the son I knew. People used to say he was a ‘perfect kid’ – I truly believe that,’ she said.
Groundbreaking legal move but at what cost?
‘I will be in my own internal prison for the rest of my life,’ she added.
Jennifer also used the opportunity to speak to warn other parents that they could end up in her position, saying: ‘Never think this could not happen to you. This could be any parent up here.
‘I still love my son unconditionally.’
Following the school shooting, the Crumbley’s fled the Oxford Township area after charges against them were announced.
They remained on the run for around a day, drained their bank accounts, and turned off their phones before being captured in a Detroit art studio, moves that took center stage at their trials.
The parents were also accused of recklessly buying Ethan the gun used in the tragedy while ignoring his pleas for help, as their juries saw his diary where he detailed how his parents ‘won’t help.’
James and Jennifer were tried separately at their own request, and their trials marked the first-time parents have ever faced charges over their child’s school shooting. The married couple have been estranged for years as they have both been incarcerated since their arrest over two years ago.
The sentencing represents the end of a dramatic saga that has pushed the boundaries of who is responsible for a mass shooting. Prosecutors used a novel legal theory in charging the parents with manslaughter even though they did not pull the trigger — the first time the parents of a school shooter have been charged with such serious crimes.
Detractors of the legal strategy raise concerns as to how far the law and approach could go or should go, whether in fact schools, school teachers, school officials, all parents of offending children, social workers, being responsible for the actions of children in their care – while all the while gun manufacturers, politicians who decline to tighten gun regulations along with a rampant gun culture continue to run amok in society.
