Jennifer and James Crumbley, the first parents of a mass school shooter in the U.S. to be convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the shooting, are set to be sentenced on Tuesday.
Prosecutors asked that each parent be given 10 to 15 years in prison after separate juries found them each guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year. Their son, Ethan, is serving a life sentence for the murders of four of his classmates at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, on Nov. 30, 2021, when he was 15 years old.
The parents have shown no remorse for their actions, prosecutors told Judge Cheryl Matthews in a sentencing memo. They told the juries that the Crumbleys bought their son the gun he used to kill Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17, and ignored troubling signs about the teen's mental health.
Loved ones of the victims are expected to read victim impact statements in court on Tuesday.
Legal experts have said the case, which drew national attention, could impact how society views parents' culpability when their children access guns and cause harm with them. Whether the outcome encourages prosecutors to bring future charges against parents remains to be seen.
The Crumbleys' son went on a rampage in the halls of Oxford High School hours after his parents were called to the school by counselors to discuss concerns over disturbing drawings he had done on a math assignment. Prosecutors said they didn't tell school officials that their son had access to guns in the home and left him at school that day.
James Crumbley purchased the gun used in the shooting, and in a post on social media Jennifer Crumbley said it was a Christmas present for the boy. The prosecution said the parents could have prevented the shooting if they had taken ordinary care to secure the gun and taken action when it was clear their son was having severe mental health issues.
The prosecution cited messages the teen sent months before the shooting to his mom that said he saw a "demon" in their house and that clothes were flying around. He also texted a friend that he had "paranoia" and was hearing voices. In a journal, the shooter wrote: "I have zero HELP for my mental problems and it's causing me to shoot up" the school.
The Crumbleys also attempted to flee from law enforcement when it became clear they would face charges, prosecutors said.
Defense attorneys said the parents never foresaw their son's actions. Jennifer Crumbley portrayed herself as an attentive mother when she took the stand in her own defense, and James Crumbley's lawyer said the gun didn't really belong to the son, and the father properly secured the gun and didn't allow his son to use it unsupervised. In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, the jury foreman in James Crumbley's trial said the storage of the gun was the key issue that drove him to convict.
James Crumbley has asked to be sentenced to time already served since his arrest in December 2021, according to the prosecutors' sentencing memo, while Jennifer Crumbley hoped to serve out a sentence on house arrest while living in her lawyer's guest house.
Prosecutors rejected the requests in the memo to the judge, saying neither had shown remorse for their roles in the deaths of four children. James Crumbley also allegedly made threats against Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald in a jail phone conversation, Keast said, showing his "chilling lack of remorse."
"Such a proposed sentence is a slap in the face to the severity of tragedy caused by (Jennifer Crumbley's) gross negligence, the victims and their families," Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Marc Keast wrote of the mother's request in a sentencing memo.
Each involuntary manslaughter count carries up to 15 years in prison, though typically such sentences are handed down concurrently, not consecutively. The judge also has the discretion to go above or below the state advisory guidelines, which recommended a sentencing range of 43 to 86 months − or a maximum of about seven years. The state guideline is advisory, based on post-conviction interviews and facts of the case.