Parents of Oxford High shooter sentenced in historic case

PONTIAC, Mich. —

Two years after their son gunned down four classmates at Oxford

High School, an Oakland County judge on Tuesday sentenced James and Jennifer Crumbley to

10 to 15 years in prison, rejecting the idea they were convicted for bad parenting and instead saying they missed repeated opportunities to stop the tragedy.

James and Jennifer Crumbley, who showed little emotion as the sentence was read, were given the maximum sentence allowed by law by Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews for their gross negligence that contributed to the

2021 high school shooting carried out by their son, Ethan. The sentence — for four counts each of involuntary manslaughter — was in line with what prosecutors had sought.

“Opportunity knocked over and over again and was ignored,” Matthews said. “No one answered.”

Parents of three of the four victims killed in the 2021 shooting — Hana

St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre,

16; and Justin Shilling,

17 — called the sentence “appropriate.” Each of the six family members who gave victim impact statements requested Matthews give the Crumbleys the maximum sentence allowed by law: 10 to 15 years in prison.

“I think it was appropriate,” said Steve St. Juliana, Hana’s father. “I’m very happy the judge made the statement she did and made the determination to give them the max. It’s time to wake up and take responsibility.”

The sentences against James, 47, and Jennifer, 46, marked the end of historic criminal proceedings, the first against the parents of a school mass shooter for involuntary manslaughter. Jennifer’s attorney,

Shannon Smith, said she plans to appeal. James’ lawyer, Mariell Lehman, hasn’t indicated whether she will file an appeal.

During the victim statements read in court Tuesday, several parents said the Crumbleys failed not just their children but the shooter by ignoring his deteriorating mental state and still buying him a gun, which they failed to secure.

“You have failed your son and failed us all,” said Jill Soave, the mother of Justin Shilling.

Many also called out a statement Jennifer made during her trial that she wouldn’t have done anything differently before the shooting. Jennifer addressed this comment in her statement to Matthews, saying it was misunderstood and, with the benefit of hindsight, she would have done things differently.

“The blood of our children is on your hands, too,” said Craig Shilling, Justin Shilling’s father.

Both Jennifer and James addressed Matthews, the victims’ families and the court before the sentence was handed down.

Jennifer expressed her “deepest sorrow” for the victims’ families, acknowledging their pain and anguish.

“I will be in my own internal prison for the rest of my life,” she said.

Still, Jennifer Crumbley maintained she and

James were good parents, loved their son and what happened to them could happen to any parent.

She said she’s learned to “never think this could not happen to you.”

“The prosecution is trying to mold us into the type of parents society wants to believe are so horrible, only a school or mass shooter” could result, Jennifer Crumbley said. “... We were good parents. We were the average family. We weren’t perfect, but we loved our son and each other tremendously.”

She said “this could be any parent up here in my shoes. Ethan could be your child, your grandchild.”

She also continued to call out Oxford school officials for not doing more to inform her and James what was going on at school.

She said much of Ethan’s behavior was not disclosed to her.

“In the counselor’s office that morning (of the shooting), none of those previous issues were brought to our attention,” she said. “... We were never asked to take him home that day.”

James Crumbley, speaking for the first time during the criminal proceedings, also apologized to the victims, saying he was “truly sorry” and had no idea what his son was planning. He asked Matthews for a “just and fair” sentence.

“I can’t express how much I wish that I had known what was going on with him (the shooter) or what was going to happen,” he said. “I absolutely would have done a lot of things differently.”

Both Smith, Jennifer’s attorney, and Lehman, James’ attorney, declined to comment after the sentencing.

During the sentencing, Matthews seemed to push back against that the idea that what happened at Oxford and with Ethan could happen to any parent. The judge said there were warning signs that would make the “hair on the back of your neck” stand up.

She said the verdicts weren’t “edicts” about guns, gun ownership or even poor parenting.

“Parents are not expected to be psychic,” Matthews said. “But these convictions are not about poor parenting. These convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could’ve halted an oncoming runaway train.”

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen Mcdonald also rejected the notion that the Crumbleys were convicted because of bad parenting or any other kind of narrative.

“They do nothing, and then they come here today, and they claim they’re victims of the school, of the prosecution, of the emotional tensions of public opinion,” Mcdonald said before Matthews delivered her sentence.

Prosecutors called for 10 to 15 years in prison, highlighting what they characterized as the couple’s lack of remorse.