A jury has determined that a mother from Michigan committed involuntary manslaughter when she did not intervene to prevent her son from carrying out a tragic school shooting.The first American parent found guilty of manslaughter in relation to a mass shooting committed by their child is 45-year-old Jennifer Crumbley.The prosecution claimed that she disregarded warning signs and was careless in granting her son access to a firearm.James, her spouse, is being tried separately on the same charges.He entered a not guilty plea.
Their son, now 17, is serving life in prison for killing four classmates at Oxford High School in Michigan on 30 November 2021.Seven people were also injured in the shooting.The judge, speaking to jurors, said this was likely “the hardest thing you’ve ever done”.Ms Crumbley appeared emotionless and stared straight down as the verdict was read in Oakland County court on Tuesday.She was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, each carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years.
“The People spoke!” Tate Myre, a 16-year-old who was killed in the shooting, had a father named Buck Myre, who made a statement to the BBC.”You can agree or disagree with the people, but this is how the system is supposed to work.”Whether the mother could have anticipated and stopped the fatal crime was the central question of the trial.
Days after the killings, police charged them. After receiving a tip from the public, police had to look for the two and eventually located them in an industrial building in Detroit.They have been detained in a county jail for over two years because they are unable to post bail.The parents requested separate trials in November even though their cases were initially meant to be tried together. The trial of James Crumbley is set for March.Prosecutors used evidence during her trial to show that Ethan Crumbley complained of hallucinations and sought mental health assistance, but his parents did not get him treatment. During her testimony, Ms. Crumbley stated that she did not believe her son had any mental health issues.Only a few days prior to the shooting, Ms. Crumbley and her husband James purchased the gun that their son used.
Before heading out for work on the morning of the shooting, the parents stopped a school meeting to talk about their son’s unsettling drawing, and they declined to bring their fifteen-year-old home.Officials from the school sent him back to class without checking his backpack, which contained a gun.He killed Hana St. Juliana, 14, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Justin Shilling, 16, and Myre, 17. A few hours later.Some experts predict that the cases against the Crumbleys will lead to more charges being brought against the parents of young shooters who commit mass shootings.
University of Pennsylvania law and psychiatry professor Stephen J. Morse expressed his disagreement with the decision, contending that since Ethan Crumbley had entered a guilty plea, he was the only one accountable for the shooting.”I understand that she was not necessarily the best mother in the world, but this is not a crime,” he stated.According to Mr. Morse, the ruling might create a negative precedent that leads judges to search for “scapegoats” in cases that are similar.Some claim that because this case was so unique, it is unlikely to have more widespread effects.
Frank Vandervort, a clinical professor of law at the University of Michigan, stated, “I don’t fear that this is going to open the floodgates to parents being charged in a run-of-the-mill case, if there is such a thing.””I think the facts of this case are so unique and sort of extreme.”Throughout the two-week trial, prosecutors tried to present the same argument, saying Ms. Crumbley expressed concern about her son in private messages but disregarded his cries for assistance.Before going to the school meeting on the day of the shooting, Ms. Crumbley expressed her fear that her son would do “something dumb” in messages she sent to a man with whom she had an affair.
Ms. Crumbley attempted to place the blame for the gun their son bought on her husband when she stood for herself during her trial.She informed the jury that the day after Thanksgiving, her husband took their son to a gun store to purchase a handgun for him as a gift.She said that she “didn’t feel comfortable” handling the gun’s security and delegated the task to James Crumbley.Since he was supposed to claim his Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination and decline to testify, Ethan Crumbley never took the stand.
The fact that school administrators have not been subject to the same legal repercussions as Mr. and Ms. Crumbley has angered the families of the victims.”Why isn’t the system allowing the people to decide when it comes to the failures at the school?” Following the verdict on Tuesday, Mr. Myre told the BBC.”Is our government under a different set of rules?”One of the many alleged missteps by the school system, according to an independent investigation released last year, was letting Ethan back into class without first checking his backpack.In reaction to the report, the school district has promised to examine and enhance its procedures and guidelines.
BBC
