Killer’s parents jailed
Judge gives them 15 years for role in school massacre
PONTIAC: The parents of a teenager who killed four classmates in a Michigan school shooting have been sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison in an unprecedented legal case.
Jennifer Crumbley and her husband James – who bought their 15-year-old son Ethan the gun for Christmas – were the first parents of a school shooter to be convicted of manslaughter in the US for the actions of their child.
Ethan, who is now 17, is serving a life sentence for the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School near Detroit, which killed Madisyn Baldwin and Justin Shilling, both 17, Tate Myre, 16, and Hana St Juliana, 14, and injured six pupils and a teacher.
Juries found the Crumbleys had ignored their son’s pleas for mental health help.
The couple, now estranged, had separate trials but appeared in court on Tuesday for a joint sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors had argued that the parents showed a “chilling lack of remorse”.
“These convictions are not about poor parenting,” Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews said in an emotional hearing in Pontiac, Michigan, attended by relatives of the victims.
“These convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.”
The judge admonished James Crumbley for allowing “unfettered access” to guns and ammunition in the family home and told Jennifer Crumbley, 46, her attitude towards her son was “dispassionate and apathetic”.
Addressing the Crumbleys in court before sentencing, Madisyn Baldwin’s mother Nicole Beausoleil said: “Not only did your son kill my daughter but you both did as well.”
Justin Shilling’s father Craig said: “The blood of our children is on your hands.”
Before the judge pronounced the sentence, the Crumbleys addressed the families of the victims.
“I stand today not to ask for your forgiveness as I know it may be beyond reach but to express my sincerest apologies for the pain that has been caused,” Jennifer Crumbley said. “I will be in my own internal prison for the rest of my life.”
James Crumbley, 47, told the families he was “sorry for your loss as a result of what my son did”.
The Crumbleys were summoned to the school on the day of the shooting after a teacher found a violent drawing on Ethan’s desk but they resisted advice for counselling and Ethan returned to class. He then pulled out his gun and fired more than 30 shots.