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[Breaking news update, published at 7:21 p.m. ET]
James Crumbley, the father of a teenager who killed four students at a Michigan high school in 2021, was sentenced in a trial a month after the shooter's mother was found guilty of the same crime. He was found guilty of manslaughter.
James Crumbley was found guilty of four counts of manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, to be served concurrently.
The lawsuit against the shooter's parents has tested the limits of responsibility for school shootings.
[Original story, last published at 11:19 a.m. ET]
Jury deliberations resumed Thursday in the manslaughter trial of James Crumbley, the father of a teenage boy who killed four students at a Michigan high school in 2021. The case went to trial just a month after the shooter's mother was convicted on the same charges.
Crumbley has been charged with four counts of manslaughter and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. The jury deliberated for about an hour Wednesday.
In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors said James Crumbley bought a SIG Sauer 9mm gun for his son days before the attack, failed to properly secure it, and blamed his son's deteriorating mental health. He said he was “grossly negligent” by not taking “reasonable care” in the shooting. Prevent foreseeable hazards.
“James Crumbley has not been tried for the actions of his son,” Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney Karen MacDonald said. “James Crumbley is on trial for what he did and what he didn't do.”
In response, defense lawyer Mariel Lehmann argued that the prosecution's case lacked evidence and was based on “conceptions and consequentialism.”
“I have not heard any testimony or seen any evidence that James knew his son was a danger to anyone,” she said.
The deliberations come two years after 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley used a SIG Sauer 9mm to kill four students and injure six students and a teacher at Oxford High School on November 30, 2021. This was done after the above had passed.
The case against the parents is testing the limits of who is responsible for mass shootings. Prosecutors seeking to expand liability in mass shootings say the parents are personally responsible for the son's death because they gave him a gun and ignored signs that his mental health was deteriorating. , adopted a novel legal strategy.
Parents have been held responsible for the actions of their children in the past for crimes such as child neglect and firearm use, but this is the first time that the parents of a school shooter were held directly responsible for the murder. Jennifer Crumbley's conviction was the first. She is scheduled to be sentenced on April 9th.
Jeff Kowalski/AFP/Getty Images
The shooter's mother, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty of manslaughter last month.
Ethan pleaded guilty last year to terroristic manslaughter, four counts of murder and 19 other related charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He did not testify at either of his parents' trials because his lawyers said he was exercising his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.
Mental health and gun safety were key focuses in the trial.
James Crumbley's trial began last week and was identical to his wife's, with many survivors of the same shooting, police investigators and school officials in attendance.
But prosecutors focused less on evidence about his personal life and interests and more on how he purchased and stored firearms. Most notably, Jennifer Crumbley came to his defense at trial, shifting the blame onto others and expressing no remorse.
James Crumbley, by contrast, refused to testify. “It is my decision to remain silent,” he told the court.
Prosecutors called 15 witnesses over the past week before calling off the case. The defense called one of its witnesses, James Crumbley's sister Karen, who spent several days with the Crumbley family in April and June 2021 and said she didn't notice anything concerning. she testified.
The key issues at issue are how the murder weapon was acquired and how the perpetrator gained access to it.
According to testimony, James bought the gun for his son on Black Friday 2021 and later told investigators that he hid the bullet somewhere else under his jeans and in a case in a cupboard. .
“Before I shoot up the school, I have to find out where my father hid my 9mm camera,” the then 15-year-old wrote in his diary before the shooting.
Detectives said a cable lock that had been sold with the SIG Sauer was found still in its plastic packaging, and no other firearm locking mechanisms were found in the home. But the defense has questioned whether another locking mechanism was used to secure the firearm.
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The cable lock that was sold with the SIG Sauer 9mm firearm was still in its plastic packaging at Crumbley's home, detectives testified.
Additionally, two other firearms in the home (a .22 derringer and a .22 caliber Kel-Tec) were locked in a gun safe in a dresser in my parents' bedroom, but the combination to unlock the safe was It was “0-0-“. 0”, the default factory setting, the detective testified.
Prosecutors also argued that James Crumbley missed obvious warning signs that his son needed help.
In a text message to a friend in April 2021, the gunman said he heard people talking to him and saw someone in the distance.
“Actually, yesterday I asked my dad to take me to the doctor, but he just gave me medicine and told me to 'shut up,'” the gunman wrote.
Defense attorney Lehman argued there was no evidence the gunman actually called for help or that the father refused help. “James had no idea that her son was in such trouble,” she said.
Jeff Kowalski/AFP/Getty Images
People gather at a memorial to the dead and injured outside Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan. December 3, 2021.
Additionally, on the morning of the shooting, his parents were called to school and were asked to review the words Ethan had written on his math worksheet, including the words “Help,” “I'm bleeding,” and “My life is worthless,” as well as a picture of a gun. We talked about disturbing posts. bullet.
Oxford High School counselor Sean Hopkins encouraged his parents to take Ethan out of school for mental health treatment on the day of the shooting, but Jennifer Crumbley said her parents did not want to do so because they had jobs. He testified that he could not. James Crumbley did not protest, the counselor testified.
School officials and parents agreed to keep Ethan in class that day, officials testified. About two hours later, the boy pulled a gun from his backpack and opened fire, killing Madisyn Baldwin, 17. Tate Mire, 16 years old. Hannah St. Juliana, 14 years old. and Justin Schilling, 17 years old.
Retrieved from CNN
Clockwise from top left, Hannah St. Juliana, Justin Schilling, Madisyn Baldwin and Tate Mire were killed in the November 2021 shooting.
Prosecutors say the shooting could have been prevented if James or Jennifer Crumbley had heeded a counselor's advice to take her son from school or told an employee that she had just bought a gun. insisted.
“James Crumbley was given the simplest and most obvious opportunity to prevent the deaths of these four students, and he did nothing,” McDonald said. “He did nothing. Over and over again.”
Lehman disagreed, saying James had no knowledge that his son had access to a weapon and did not believe there was an immediate threat of danger.
“Mr. James Crumbley had no idea what his son was capable of, what his son was planning, and he had no idea that his son had access to a firearm,” Lehman said.
