Parents of Michigan School Shooter Ethan Crumbley Sentenced to 10-15 Years in Prison
AMichigan judge sentenced the parents of a teenager who killed four classmates at his high school to 10 to 15 years in prison each, the first parents of a school shooter to be held directly responsible for their child’s attack.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were each convicted of four counts of unintentional homicide in separate trials that ended in February and March. Their son, Ethan Crumbley, pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in the 2021 killings at Oxford High School about 40 miles north of Detroit and is serving life in prison.
Neither defendant showed a strong reaction to the decision, and both impassively signed various forms before being escorted out of the courtroom.
“These convictions were not about poor parenting,” said Judge Cheryl Matthews. “These convictions convey repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.”
Prosecutors had sought 10 to 15 years each for the parents, higher than state minimum sentencing recommendations of 43 to 86 months, citing what they called a lack of remorse by the parents and threatening comments directed at the district attorney made by James Crumbley in jailhouse telephone calls.
James Crumbley asked to be sentenced to time served. His lawyer said in a filing that his threats against the prosecutor weren’t physical and he was venting to loved ones about his situation. Jennifer Crumbley also sought to avoid prison time by serving any additional sentence beyond time served in the guesthouse of her lawyer under electronic monitoring.
Both parents made statements at the sentencing. Jennifer Crumbley sought to undo a much criticized statement at her trial in which she said she wouldn’t do anything differently as a parent, but repeated her contention that she was unaware of her son’s troubles. James Crumbley expressed his deep sorrow for the families of the victims but also said he didn’t know what his son was planning.
At trial, prosecutors portrayed both parents as unconcerned by their son’s deteriorating mental state, failing to take him home after a troubling meeting with school officials the day of the shooting and failing to securely store the gun used in the attack. The parents argued in their presentencing statements to the court that they were unaware of their son’s mental-health issues. James Crumbley maintained that he had taken prudent steps to secure the weapon.
In victim impact statements during the sentencing hearing, several parents read heart-wrenching accounts of how they had been affected by the tragedy and how the Crumbleys had failed the entire community.
“When you texted Ethan, ‘Don’t do it,’ I was texting Madisyn ‘I love you. Please call mom,’” said Nicole Beausoleil, mother of Madisyn Baldwin, who was 17 when she was killed by Ethan Crumbley. “While you were running away from your son and your responsibilities, I was doing the worst thing a parent could do. I was forced to say goodbye to my Madisyn.”
The cases against the Crumbley parents were the first time prosecutors had sought to pin direct responsibility for a fatal school shooting on the parents of the shooter.
Prosecutors recently charged several parents with crimes related to shootings carried out by their children—though not directly putting blame on them for the attacks. The mother of a 6-year-old who shot his teacher in Newport News, Va., was sentenced in December to two years for child neglect in connection with the nonfatal shooting. The father of a man accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., pleaded guilty in November to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct for helping his son get a gun license. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years of probation.
Both Crumbley trials hinged on a meeting among the parents, Ethan Crumbley and two school officials the morning of the shooting. On a school math sheet, Ethan had drawn a picture of a 9mm handgun resembling the one he had received as a Christmas present, a person bleeding and the words, “blood everywhere,” “the thoughts won’t stop” and “help me.”
School officials recommended the parents seek immediate mental-health services for their son, but the parents opted to leave him in school after school officials extended the deadline to 48 hours. He opened fire in a hallway shortly after the meeting.
Both parents are expected to appeal their convictions. The parents of one of the students injured in the shooting have brought a federal lawsuit against the Oxford Community School District and Acme Shooting Goods, which sold the gun used in the attack to James Crumbley. The school district didn’t respond to a request for comment. The gun shop had no comment.
