Both Crumbleys were convicted on four counts of involuntary manslaughter over the 2021 shooting at Michigan’s Oxford High School carried out by their son, Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time.
James and Jennifer Crumbley, whose son murdered four classmates and shot seven other people at Oxford High School in 2021, were each sentenced Tuesday to between 10 and 15 years in prison.
Both Crumbleys were found guilty in separate trials on four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Each of those charges carried a maximum penalty of 15 years, and the sentences are to be served concurrently.
The sentences handed down by Judge Cheryl Matthews in Pontiac, Mich., caps a case that many legal experts say might set a precedent for charging parents with serious crimes because of actions taken by their child.
Their son, Ethan Crumbley, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life without parole for the school shooting he carried out when he was 15. A rare prosecution
The Crumbleys are believed to be the first parents of a mass school shooter to have been charged and convicted of such crimes.
Prosecutors never claimed the parents knew about their son’s plans to go on a killing spree at Michigan’s Oxford High School. However, they argued the Crumbleys ignored signs their son was seriously troubled and instead bought him a powerful Sig Sauer 9mm handgun as an early Christmas present.
They never told counselors about the gun they gifted their child when they were called to a meeting at the school the day of the shooting, not even when they were shown drawings the teen made featuring a pistol resembling the Sig Sauer alongside a figure with bullet wounds and phrases like « blood everywhere » and « help me, the thoughts won’t stop. »
Instead, the Crumbleys left their son at school and returned to work.
