Jennifer and James Crumbley, parents of Michigan school shooter, to be sentenced Tuesday for involuntary manslaughter
![Jennifer and James Crumbley, parents of Michigan school shooter, to be sentenced Tuesday for involuntary manslaughter Jennifer and James Crumbley, parents of Michigan school shooter, to be sentenced Tuesday for involuntary manslaughter](https://newsnetdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/crumbley3-file-ap-ml-240405_1712332980110_hpMain_16x9.jpg)
Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of Oxford High School mass shooter Ethan Crumbley, are scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday after each was found guilty of four counts of manslaughter in separate trials earlier this year.
These trials represent a rare case where parents face criminal charges, or even prison time, for their role in a shooting perpetrated by their child. They could face up to 15 years in prison on each count, but prosecutors are seeking 10 to 15 years total for each parent, according to a sentencing memo filed by prosecutors last week.
“No sentence this Court can impose will undo the damage caused by the Oxford High School shooting on November 30, 2021,” prosecutors wrote in seeking Jennifer Crumbley’s sentence. “As the jury found, the defendant’s gross negligence was a cause of this harm; she knew of the danger to others, it was reasonably foreseeable that her son would shoot someone, but she did not evidence of the slightest measure of ordinary precaution.”
Michigan’s sentencing guidelines call for a maximum sentence of about seven years in prison, a sentence that prosecutors say is not harsh enough.
“Given the guidelines, what they take into account and what they do not take into account, and the objectives of sentencing, the seriousness of the circumstances in this case and the complete lack of remorse of the defendant warrants a sentence that exceeds the applicable guideline range,” prosecutors continued. “A sentence of 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment is proportionate to these offenses and this offender.”
The exact same request was sent regarding James Crumbley.
Jennifer Crumbley’s attorneys are asking that she be sentenced to prison and house arrest, according to the defense sentencing memo. James Crumbley’s lawyers requested 28 months in prison, the time he has already spent in detention, with time served as well as the maximum period of supervised release.
Prosecutors were particularly harsh on James Crumbley in asking for a sentence longer than the sentencing guidelines, pointing to threats he made on the phone from prison against District Attorney Karen McDonald and an instance where he gestured with his middle finger at a prosecutor during the trial. .
“The defendant’s brazen lack of remorse in requesting that time served be an appropriate sentence is a slap in the face of the gravity of the tragedy caused by his gross negligence, to the victims and their families, and to the applicable law that relies on the concept of proportionate sentences,” prosecutors wrote.
James Crumbley, father of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, leaves the courtroom as the jury begins deliberations in his trial March 13, 2024 at Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac, Michigan.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images, FILE
Ethan Crumbley, who was just 15 at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shootings that killed four students: Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17.
He pleaded guilty to 24 counts, including first-degree premeditated murder and terrorism causing death in 2021.
The parents had ignored several warning signs in the days before the shooting and had just bought their son the gun he used in the shooting, prosecutors say. The prosecution argued that the parents failed to secure the gun and limit their son’s access to it.
Prosecutors argued that James Crumbley did not use a cable lock, trigger lock or store the gun in a locked safe, which could have prevented the shooting. Prosecutor Karen McDonald even demonstrated installing a cable lock for the jury during closing arguments, saying it takes “less than 10 seconds.”
![PHOTO: Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of accused Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, listens on the stand in the courtroom of Oakland County Court in Pontiac, Michigan, on February 2, 2024.](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/f2b9420a-0acb-48fc-a5e7-510bd1bfe78c/crumbley1-file-gty-ml-240405_1712332974501_hpEmbed_3x2.jpg)
Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of accused Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, listens on the stand in the courtroom of Oakland County Court in Pontiac, Michigan, February 2, 2024.
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
Oxford High School officials called parents to the school the morning of the shooting after disturbing drawings were discovered on their son’s math test and he made statements to a counselor suggesting he was considering to kill himself, prosecutors said.
School officials said the parents said they had to return to work and could not stay home with their son, and that if he left he would have to walk home and stay alone until they finish working. School officials, concerned about Ethan Crumbley, allowed him to stay at the school.
The shooting happened that afternoon.
Jennifer Crumbley’s trial focused largely on how she spent her time in the weeks and months leading up to the shooting, implying that she failed to respond to warning signs or get help for his son. Her former employer testified on the stand that she could have left work the day of the shooting – after meeting with school officials – to care for her son or that she could have brought her son with her her at work if necessary.
![PHOTO: Jennifer and James Crumbley, parents of Ethan Crumbley, appear in court on February 8, 2022, in Rochester Hills, Michigan.](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/6267404f-5d46-4b06-b02d-98a502f2f9e1/crumbley3-file-ap-ml-240405_1712332980110_hpMain.jpg)
Jennifer and James Crumbley, parents of Ethan Crumbley, appear in court on February 8, 2022, in Rochester Hills, Michigan.
Paul Sancya/AP, FILE
A man she had an affair with in the months before the shooting also testified, with prosecutors questioning him about how the two men spent their time and their communications before and after the shooting.
Jennifer Crumbley also took the stand in her own defense and was questioned by prosecutors about her extramarital affairs and her relationship with her son.
ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.
ABC News