The jury foreman in Jennifer Crumbley's trial said that although the guilty verdict was not immediately unanimous, evidence presented at trial, including her son's notes, played a “huge role.”
On Tuesday, Crumbley was found guilty of all four counts of manslaughter, with a jury finding him criminally responsible for the Nov. 30, 2021 shooting at Oxford High School by his son, Ethan Crumbley.
The decision was unanimous and unprecedented, marking the first time in the United States that parents have been held accountable for their children's school shootings.
“Speaking for myself, I know that each juror had their own opinion,” jury foreman Alex (whose last name is not being used to protect privacy) told NBC News on Wednesday. He spoke on the program “TODAY”. That day, I didn't pull my son away from the gun enough to save their lives. ”
She noted that her son's mother was the last person known to have stored the gun before it was used in the shooting.
“And I think she's responsible for securing the weapons,” Alex said.
host Savannah Guthrie asked her. “What about the text messages or the diary or what the jury saw that showed Ethan wanted help and his parents didn't give it? Was that convincing to you? ?”
“For me personally, it wasn't as shocking as the evidence that she had a gun, but I know that for my fellow jurors, this notebook played a huge role,” Alex said. Told.
Alex described the emotional strain of the trial, saying jurors “feel an undeniable burden on us.”
“We all took seriously the responsibility placed on us. And even though I'm only one of 12, we made a very difficult decision,” she explained.
Crumbley, 45, faces up to 15 years in prison on each charge. Sentencing is scheduled for April 9th.
Her husband, James Crumbley, was also charged with four counts of manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty and a trial is scheduled for next month.
Prosecutors said Ethan Crumbley, then 15, opened fire at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, with a 9mm Sig Sauer handgun his father had bought and gave him days earlier.
He killed Madisyn Baldwin, 17. Tate Mire, 16 years old. Hannah St. Juliana, 14 years old. and Justin Schilling, 17, were injured, along with seven other people.
Ethan Crumbley, now 17, pleaded guilty in October 2022 to charges including terrorism causing death and first-degree premeditated murder, and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The case against the Crumbley family is one of the rare cases in which a parent is prosecuted after their child commits a mass shooting.
At trial, prosecutors portrayed Ms. Crumbley as an abandoned mother. When she and her husband gave her son a semi-automatic handgun, neither of them properly stored it, prosecutors said.
On the day of the shooting, after the Crumbleys were called to school for their son's disturbing drawings of a gun, his parents told school officials they could not allow their son access to a weapon or take him home. I didn't tell you.
In court, Jennifer Crumbley said that while she “doesn't think I failed as a parent” and “didn't” have done anything differently in raising her son, she regrets his actions. He testified that there was.
Alex said that line was “repeated over and over again in the deliberation room.”
“I think it was very upsetting to hear that. I think there were a lot of little things that could have been done to prevent this,” she said.
Robert Climo Jr., the father of the man accused of killing seven people during the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, faces criminal charges and was found guilty of misdemeanor battery in November. admitted.
Climo Jr. pleaded guilty to charges related to sponsoring his son's Firearms Owner's Identification Application, which allowed Robert Climo III to purchase the AR-15-style weapon used in the shooting.
Officials said the father was too young for Klimo III to apply and did so despite previous threats by the 19-year-old to harm himself or his loved ones.
