A Michigan jury returned guilty verdicts on four counts of involuntary manslaughter on Thursday James Crumbley, father of school shooter Ethan Crumbley, who was charged over his teenage son’s decision to shoot Oxford High School in November 2021. The two parents were accused of giving their son access to the weapon he used to commit the crime, a pistol that the father had purchased just four days before the shooting.
James Crumbley, 47, and Jennifer Crumbley, 45, were each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter resulting in a shooting after November 30, 2021 his then 15-year-old son killed students Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 16; Hana Santa Juliana, 14; and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and seven other victims were injured.
“This is a groundbreaking case,” defense attorney Keith Johnson told Fox News Digital, “because prosecutors are seeking to hold a parent accountable for the actions of a child … acts of violence that resulted in the deaths of other children.” “This is a Test case for recognizing the limits of parental responsibility for the actions of their high school-aged children.”
Johnson added that the trials of James and Jennifer Crumbley “could prompt prosecutors across the country to take a similar approach and hold parents and guardians accountable when guns are brought home and used in shootings of this nature.” The The Crumleys are the first parents in American history to go to trial for a mass school shooting.
The teenager pleaded guilty to a crime of terrorism, four counts of murder and 19 other charges in connection with the massacre. At his trial, he testified that the gun was not locked when he put it in his backpack before going to school.
