Ethan Crumbley’s father was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter by a Michigan jury Thursday for failing to address signs that his son was agitated before killing four of his classmates in a 2021 school shooting. was convicted of.
James Crumbley, 47, was found guilty of all four counts of manslaughter by a jury in a Pontiac, Michigan court after 10 hours of deliberation over two days and a five-day trial.
“He did nothing over and over again,” prosecutor Karen MacDonald said of the father who did not intervene during his son’s violent acts during closing arguments Wednesday.
Prosecutors told jurors that James failed to intervene despite his teenage son’s unstable mental state, including by failing to lock the semi-automatic handgun his father had bought Ethan as a Christmas present. said.
Just four days later, Ethan, then 15, used the weapon in a mass shooting on Nov. 30, 2021, at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit, killing four students and killing six classmates and a teacher. injured.
James’ lawyer, Mariel Lehman, told jurors that his father “had no idea that his son was in such trouble” and could not have predicted that his son would carry out the heinous murder. He said there was no.
Ethan, now 17, pleaded guilty to terrorism and first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December 2023. His murder victims were Justin Schilling (17 years old) and Ethan (17 years old). Madisyn Baldwin, 17 years old. Hannah St. Juliana, 14 years old. and Tate Mire (16).
Jennifer Crumbley, Ethan’s mother and James’ wife, similarly ignored her son’s mental health issues, allowed him to use a gun, and did not possess one, prosecutors said. He was later found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on February 6th. A boy who was shown his violent drawings on the same day as the shooting quit school.
Four days before the shooting, James took his son to a gun store and bought the boy a Sig Sauer 9mm handgun, a gun store employee testified.
Jurors were then shown a video of Jennifer teaching Ethan how to shoot at a shooting range just three days before the assault. His father also took him to the shooting range the year before the tragic incident.
Her conviction marks the first time in the United States that a parent has been held responsible for a school shooting by a child.
On the morning of the shooting, Ethan’s teacher found a gruesome drawing of a handgun for a math project. It was similar to the one given to him. According to trial testimony, the painting also depicts a bullet and a bleeding person, with the words “Blood everywhere,” “My life is useless,” and “I can’t stop thinking, please help me.” was attached.
That morning, authorities called the Crumbleys to school and told them Ethan, a second-grader, needed psychological help and needed to be taken home. But the couple refused to take their son home, didn’t check his backpack or ask about weapons, prosecutors alleged.
Prosecutors said Ethan told a friend in an email that when the child asked his parents to take him to the doctor, his father “gave me some medicine and told me to smoke it.” .
But Lehman countered that James did not know about his son’s emails or diary entries asking for help, nor did he know that his son was suffering. This argument, made by Jennifer’s lawyer at trial, was unsuccessful.
Unable to pay the $500,000 bail set in each case, the parents were jailed for more than two years while awaiting trial. They could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
Jennifer is scheduled to be sentenced on April 9th.
with post wire
