PARENTAL PUNISHMENT
10-15 yrs. for son’s mass school slay
Ethan Crumbley’s parents were sentenced to between 10 and 15 years behind bars Tuesday for their son’s 2021 massacre that left four students dead, the first time in American history parents have been sentenced for their child’s school shooting.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were handed down the prison time by Judge Cheryl Matthews in a Pontiac, Mich., courtroom after they were found guilty on involuntary manslaughter charges at separate trials in March and February, respectively.
“These convictions are not about poor parenting, these convictions confirm repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train, about repeatedly ignoring things that would make a reasonable person feel the hair on the back of their neck stand up,” Matthews said before announcing the sentences.
They were convicted for failing to intervene despite obvious warning signs their son was troubled and for failing to keep a gun locked away in their home.
The judge blamed Jennifer for glorifying owning guns and for her “dispassionate and apathetic” attitude toward Ethan.
‘Gross negligence’
“Each of the defendants’ gross negligence has caused unimaginable suffering to hundreds of others,” the judge said.
Prosecutors had asked Judge Matthews to put James, 47, and Jennifer, 46, away for at least 10 years for the rampage that killed four students, injured six more and also injured a teacher at Oxford HS on Nov. 30, 2021.
Both parents, who’ve been locked up for the 2¹/₂ years since their arrests, asked for no additional prison time.
Jennifer requested she be released with GPS tracking to live with her lawyer.
Before sentencing Jennifer — wearing black and white jail clothes — was allowed to address the court, saying she had found God and claimed she had no idea of what her son was capable.
“If I even thought my son would be capable of crimes like these, my actions would have absolutely been different . . . He was not the son I knew when I woke up on Nov. 30. The Ethan I knew was a good, quiet kid.”
James — wearing orange jail scrubs — was also given an opportunity to speak from the defense table where he emotionally apologized for the “pain and agony” his son had caused.
“Part of you will be missing forever, but please know I am truly very sorry. I am sorry for your loss as a result of what my son did. I cannot express how much I wish that I had known what was going on with him or what was going to happen.”
Before the Crumbley parents spoke, family members of the slain students — Justin Shilling, 17; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Tate Myre, 16 — told the judge about the devastating toll the shooting has had on their lives.