PONTIAC, MI — The parents of a Michigan school shooter are asking a judge to keep them out of jail as they face sentencing for their role in an attack that killed four students in 2021.
Jennifer and James Crumbley will appear in court on Tuesday for the conclusion of a groundbreaking case: they are the first parents convicted of a mass school shooting in America.
The Crumbleys were unaware that their son, Ethan Crumbley, planned the Oxford High School shooting. But prosecutors said the parents failed to safely store a gun and could have prevented the shooting by picking up the 15-year-old from school when he was confronted with his dark drawing that day.
Prosecutors are seeking at least 10 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
Attorney Shannon Smith said Jennifer Crumbley is “not a threat to the community.” Smith said she is even willing to put Jennifer Crumbley up in a guest house on her property, equipped with an electronic cable.
“Putting Ms. Crumbley in jail will not further deter others from committing similar offenses,” Smith said in a court filing. “There is no one who would want the events of November 30, 2021 to repeat themselves.”
Smith said “any gross negligence” were mistakes “any parent could make.”
Mariell Lehman, an attorney representing James Crumbley, said the nearly 2.5 years they have spent in jail since the couple’s arrest is sufficient time in custody. His wife also spent time in jail after both were unable to post $500,000 bail before trial.
James Crumbley “did not believe there was reason to be concerned that his son would pose a threat to anyone,” Lehman said.
Ethan Crumbley, now 17, pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence.
Prosecutors said “tragically simple actions” by both parents could have prevented the catastrophe.
The couple had separate trials in Oakland County Court, 40 miles north of Detroit. Jurors heard how the teen had pulled out a gun, a bullet and a gunshot victim during a math assignment, accompanied by stark sentences: “The thoughts don’t stop. Help me. My life is useless. Blood everywhere.”
Ethan told a counselor that he was sad — a grandmother had died and his only friend had suddenly moved away — but said the drawing only reflected his interest in making video games.
The Crumbleys attended a meeting at the school that lasted less than 15 minutes. They didn’t mention that the gun resembled one that James Crumbley, 47, had purchased just four days earlier — a Sig Sauer 9mm that Ethan had described on social media as his “beauty.”
His parents refused to take him home, choosing instead to return to work and accept a list of mental health providers. School staff said Ethan could stay on campus. A counselor, Shawn Hopkins, said he believed it would be safer for the boy than possibly being home alone.
However, no one checked Ethan’s backpack. He pulled the gun later that day and killed four students — Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana, Justin Shilling and Madisyn Baldwin — and injured seven other people.
There was no trial testimony from specialists about Ethan’s state of mind. But the judge, despite the defense’s objections, allowed the jury to see excerpts from his diary.
“I don’t have any help for my mental issues and it’s causing me to shoot up the…school,” he wrote. “I want help, but my parents don’t listen to me, so I can’t get help.”
Asked about Ethan reporting hallucinations months before the shooting, Jennifer Crumbley, 46, told jurors he was just “messing around.”
At the end of James Crumbley’s trial, prosecutor Karen McDonald demonstrated how a cable lock found in a package at home could have secured the gun.
“Ten seconds,” she said, “of the easiest, simplest thing.”
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