Current:Home > StocksMichigan school shooter’s mother to stand trial for manslaughter in 4 student deaths-LoTradeCoin
Michigan school shooter’s mother to stand trial for manslaughter in 4 student deaths
View Date:2025-01-11 12:56:15
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The mother of a teenager who committed a mass school shooting in Michigan is headed to trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in an unusual effort to pin criminal responsibility on his parents for the deaths of four students.
Jennifer and James Crumbley are not accused of knowing their son planned to kill fellow students at Oxford High School in 2021. But prosecutors said they made a gun accessible to Ethan Crumbley, ignored his mental health needs and declined to take him home when confronted with his violent drawings at school on the day of the attack.
Involuntary manslaughter has been “well-defined for ages, and its elements are definite and plain: gross negligence causing death,” assistant prosecutor Joseph Shada said in a court filing.
Jury selection begins Tuesday in Jennifer Crumbley’s trial in Oakland County court, 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Detroit. James Crumbley will face a separate trial in March. In December, Ethan was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder, terrorism and other crimes.
It’s a notable case: The Crumbleys are the first parents to be charged in a mass U.S. school shooting. The mother of a 6-year-old Virginia boy who wounded his teacher with a gun was recently sentenced to two years in prison for child neglect.
“I think prosecutors are feeling pressure when these weapon-related offenses occur,” said Eve Brensike Primus, who teaches criminal procedure at the University of Michigan Law School. “People are outraged, and they’re looking for someone to take responsibility for it.”
There’s no dispute that James Crumbley, 47, bought a gun with Ethan at his side four days before the shooting — the teen called it, “my new beauty.” Jennifer Crumbley, 45, took him to a shooting range and described the outing on Instagram as a “mom and son day.”
A day before the shooting, the school informed Jennifer Crumbley that Ethan, who was 15, was looking at ammunition on his phone. “I’m not mad,” she texted him. “You have to learn not to get caught.”
Defense attorneys insist the tragedy was not foreseeable by the parents. They liken the charges to trying to put a “square peg into a round hole.”
“After every school shooting, the media and those affected are quick to point to so-called ‘red flags’ that were missed by those in the shooter’s life,” Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman said in an unsuccessful effort to get the Michigan Supreme Court to dismiss the charges. “But the truth of the matter is one cannot predict the unimaginable.”
At his sentencing, Ethan, now 17, told a judge that he was a “really bad person” who could not stop himself.
“They did not know and I did not tell them what I planned to do, so they are not at fault,” he said of his parents.
A few hours before the shooting, the Crumbleys were summoned to Oxford High School. Ethan had drawn violent images on a math assignment with the message: “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me.”
The parents were told to get him into counseling, but they declined to remove him from school and left campus after less than 30 minutes, according to investigators. Ethan had brought a gun from home that day, Nov. 30, 2021, though no one checked his backpack.
The shooter surrendered to police after killing four students and wounding seven more people. The parents were charged a few days later, but they weren’t easy to find. Police said they were hiding in a building in Detroit.
The Crumbleys have been in jail for more than two years awaiting trial, unable to afford a $500,000 bond. Involuntary manslaughter in Michigan carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
___
Follow Ed White at https://twitter.com/edwritez
veryGood! (3368)
Related
- Waymo’s robotaxis now open to anyone who wants a driverless ride in Los Angeles
- Sophia Bush Shares Insight Into “Priceless” Friendship With One Tree Hill Costar Hilarie Burton
- The request for federal aid after Beryl opens rift between White House and Texas
- Bed rotting every night? You're actually in a 'functional freeze.'
- Amtrak service disrupted after fire near tracks in New York City
- In the South, Sea Level Rise Accelerates at Some of the Most Extreme Rates on Earth
- Ocasio-Cortez introduces impeachment articles against Supreme Court's Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito
- A Turning Point in Financial Innovation: The Ascent of DB Wealth Institute
- Surprise bids revive hope for offshore wind in Gulf of Mexico after feds cancel lease sale
- Higher costs and low base fares send Delta’s profit down 29%. The airline still earned $1.31 billion
Ranking
- Why have wildfires been erupting across the East Coast this fall?
- AI-generated jokes funnier than those created by humans, University of Southern California study finds
- Trump wants Black and Latino support. But he’s not popular with either group, poll analysis shows
- Government power in the US is a swirl of checks and balances, as a recent Supreme Court ruling shows
- Burger King is giving away a million Whoppers for $1: Here's how to get one
- Wheel of (shrinking) fortune: How game-show prizes have lagged behind inflation
- Keira Knightley and Husband James Righton Make Rare Appearance at Wimbledon 2024
- ‘Wrexham’ owner, Phillies fanatic McElhenney enjoys ties to baseball’s top team this season
Recommendation
-
LSU leads college football Week 11 Misery Index after College Football Playoff hopes go bust
-
It's National Kitten Day! Watch the cutest collection of kitten tales
-
Top 3 candidates to replace Gregg Berhalter as US coach after firing
-
Three-time Pro Bowl safety Jamal Adams agrees to deal with Titans
-
Duke basketball vs Kentucky live updates: Highlights, scores, updates from Champions Classic
-
Gregg Berhalter fired as US men's national soccer team coach
-
A stegosaurus nicknamed Apex will be auctioned in New York. Its remains show signs of arthritis
-
Ocasio-Cortez introduces impeachment articles against Supreme Court's Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito