PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan jury on Tuesday found the mother of a school shooter guilty of manslaughter. In 2021, four students were murdered, She became the first parent in the U.S. to be held accountable for her child's gang attack at school.
Prosecutors argue that Jennifer Crumbley had a duty under state law to prevent her then-15-year-old son from harming others. She is accused of failing to secure guns and ammunition at her home and failing to obtain help to support Ethan Crumbley's mental health.
Four guilty verdicts, one for each student killed at Oxford High School, were returned after nearly 11 hours of deliberations by the jury.
After the verdict was read and each juror was counted, Jennifer Crumbley, 45, looked down and shook her head slightly.
On her way out of the courtroom, prosecutor Karen McDonald hugged the families of victim Justin Schilling's father, Craig Schilling, and Madisyn Baldwin.
“Thank you,” one man whispered to her.
Jennifer and James Crumbley america's first parents He is charged with a school shooting committed by his own child. James Crumbley goes on trial in March.
“The cries have been heard and this verdict will resonate in every home in this country,” Craig Schilling told reporters.
“I feel it's necessary and I'm happy with this verdict. It's still a sad situation. It has to stop. It's accountability and this is what we've been asking for for a long time. '' Schilling said.
A judge's gag order prevented McDonald and his lawyer, Shannon Smith, from speaking to reporters.
upon On the morning of November 30, 2021, School officials were concerned that Ethan Crumbley's math assignment included violent pictures of guns, bullets and wounded people, along with desperate phrases. His parents were called to the school for a brief interview but did not take the boy home.
Hours later, Ethan Crumbley pulled a handgun from his backpack and shot and killed 10 students and a teacher. No one was checking backpacks.
The gun was a Sig Sauer 9mm that his father had purchased just four days earlier. Jennifer Crumbley also took her son to the shooting range that same weekend.
“You're the last adult in possession of that gun,” Assistant Prosecutor Mark Keast said during cross-examination of the mother last week. “You saw his son shoot in the last practice round before the (school) shooting on Nov. 30. You saw how he was standing. …He knew how to use a gun.”
Attorney Shannon Smith, left, stands next to defendant Jennifer Crumbley during a trial on Monday, February 5, 2024 in Pontiac, Michigan. On Tuesday, February 6, 2024, a Michigan jury found Crumbley, the mother of the school shooter, guilty. She was charged with manslaughter in a landmark trial to determine whether she was responsible for the deaths of four students in 2021. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, Pool, File)
Jennifer Crumbley replied, “Yes, I am.”
In addition to 17-year-old Justin Schilling and 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin, Hannah St. Juliana, 14, and Tate Myre, 16, were also killed. Seven people were injured.
Ethan Crumbley, now 17 years old, Pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism And he is serving a life sentence.
Jennifer Crumbley told jurors it was her husband's job to trace the guns. She also said her son showed no signs of mental distress.
“We would talk. We did a lot of things together,” she testified. “I trusted him and he felt like the door was open. He could come to me with anything.”
In a diary found by police, Ethan Crumbley wrote that his parents would not heed his pleas for help.
“I have no help for my mental health issues, which led me to shoot up a school,” he wrote.
The words that accompanied the picture that prompted the counselor to call the Crumbleys to school read: help me. The world is dead. My life is wasted. ”
Prosecutors presented evidence that Ethan Crumbley texted his mother in the spring of 2021 about “devils” throwing bowls and other hallucinations. But she told her jury it was “just Ethan fooling around.”
“I asked myself if I could have done something different. It wouldn't have happened. I wish he had killed us instead,” she testified.
The six-man, six-woman jury included people who owned guns or grew up with guns in their homes. Jurors said they could put aside their own opinions about guns to give the case a fair trial.
Jennifer Crumbley will be sentenced to approximately 2 1/2 years in county jail when she appears for sentencing on April 9th. The judge will set the minimum prison sentence based on scoring guidelines and other factors.
How long she will actually remain in prison will be determined by the Michigan Parole Board. Her maximum sentence for manslaughter is 15 years.
Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek consecutive sentences for the four convictions, but if Judge Cheryl Matthews agrees, he could face up to 60 years in prison.
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