An unprecedented verdict was handed down in the USA this Tuesday: the couple James and Jennifer Crumbley were sentenced to 10 and 15 years in prison, respectively, for negligent homicide. However, they weren’t the ones who pulled the trigger that ended with the lives of four high school students in Michigan in 2021, but his son Ethan Crumbleyonly 15 years old.
They gave their son a gun
The justice system of the American state claims that this couple is responsible for the actions of their son Ethan, to whom they gave a semi-automatic pistol as a gift. for Thanksgivingwhile the young man was going through a major emotional crisis: This was the weapon the young man used to end the lives of four people. commit a crime for which Crumbley faces life imprisonment.
As the prosecution points out, it was Ethan’s father “grossly negligent” for giving their son a gun instead of offering him psychological treatment, even though the couple argued that the gun should be used for hunting on a family ranch.
“Jennifer Crumbley didn’t pull the trigger that day, but she is responsible for these deaths.”the Oakland County deputy prosecutor said during the meeting, although the woman wanted to transfer responsibility for the gun’s custody to her husband.
“I didn’t feel comfortable being responsible for it. It was more his thing, so I let him take care of it.highlighted the woman who expressed “deep regret, regret and sadness” over the shooting committed by her son at Oxford High School on November 30, 2021: this day Justin Shilling (17 years), Hana St. Juliana (14 years), Madisyn Baldwin (17 years old) and Tate Myre (16 years old) went to class and never returned home.
Condolences and accusations
The relatives of these victims were present at the meeting: Steve St. Juliana, Hana St. Juliana’s father, has singled out parents for their “silence.”
“I can’t express how much I wish I had known what was going on with him or what was going to happen.”complained James Crumbley, who, like his wife, has said that institute officials were negligent.
“A true act of terror”
Oakland County Judge Kwamé Rome gave the 15-year-old the maximum sentence for committing a “genuine act of terrorism”” as he explained that Ethan forced a colleague to kneel before shooting him: “This is an execution”he explained.
For the first time in the history of the United States, the judiciary has assumed responsibility criminal to the parents of an underage shooter who carried out a massacre at a high school.