Madison Meeks

mvm7037@psu.edu

Editor in chief

PONTIAC, MICH. –  Tuesday , Feb. 6, A Jury found the mom of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the murder of four students in 2021. Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents in United States history to be charged for a mass shooting that was committed by their child. James Crumbley is due to face trial in March.  

According to AP News, “Prosecutors say Jennifer Crumbley had a duty under state law to prevent her son, who was 15 at the time, from harming others. She was accused of failing to secure a gun and ammunition at home and failing to get help to support Ethan Crumbley’s mental health”. 

After roughly 11 hours of deliberations, the jury returned with four guilty verdicts, which was for each of the four slain victims. After the verdict was read and as each juror was polled, Jennifer Crumbley was seen looking down and shaking her head. 

The prosecutor, Karen McDonald shared a hug with the relatives of the victims Justin Shilling and Madisyn Baldwin as she was leaving the courtroom. According to AP News, a gag order prevented McDonald and defense attorney Shannon Smith frpm speaking to reporters.

The crime took place on Nov. 30, 2021, Jennifer and James Crumbley were called into a meeting at Oxford High School after staff members showed concern about a violent drawing of a gun and a wounded man, but also a phrase that was written on Ethan Crumbley’s math assignment. Despite the concerns from the staff, the Crumbley’s claimed their son was fine and did not take him home. 

A few hours after the meeting, Ethan Crumbley had pulled a handgun from his backpack and shot 10 students and a teacher. Even though the staff members showed concern about the drawings, no one checked his backpack the day of the shooting. 

Investigators found that the gun was a Sig Sauer 9 mm. This gun was the same one that his father had bought for him just a short four days before. Jennifer Crumbley also had taken her son to a shooting range the weekend before. 

An unnamed juror said they were influenced by evidence that stated that Jennifer Crumbley was the last adult to have the gun. The evidence shown to the jury was an image of Crumbley leaving  a shooting range with the gun in the box. While cross examining Crumbley, assistant prosecutor Marc Keast stated “You saw your son shoot the last practice round before the shooting on Nov. 30. You saw how he stood… He knew how to use a gun”. Crumbley agreed with the statement that Keast said. 

According to AP News, McDonald said she filed the charges based on the unique facts that lead up to the shooting. Officials from the school have stated that if the parents would have disclosed the information of the new gun, which their son had claimed on social media to be his “beauty”, then they would have not agreed to keep Ethan Crumbley on campus that day. 

During the trial, the mother claimed that it was her husband’s job to keep track of the gun that he just recently bought their son. She also claimed that she did not see her son’s signs of mental distress. A piece of evidence that was said to be used in the trial was Ethan Crumbley’s journal, which was found by police. The son stated that his parents would not listen to his plea for help and he had received no help from his parents for his mental health. Another piece of evidence was that of a text that was sent to the mother in the spring of 2021. Her son claimed that he had hallucinations and wrote about a demon throwing bowls. On the stand the mother told the jury that her son was just messing around and denied the claims of his mental health problems. AP News has stated that the jury at the trial had consisted of people who had owned guns or grew up with them in their homes.   Killed on that tragic day were 17-year-old Justin Shilling, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin, 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, and 16-year-old  Tate Myre. Seven people were also wounded in the attack. 

Now 17-years-old Ethan Crumbley will be serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to murder and terrorism. James Crumbley will be on trial in March. Jennifer Crumbley will go back to court in April and will get credit for the roughly 2 and half years that she spent in county jail leading up to the trial. The judge will then determine and set the minimum prison sentence but the Michigan parole board gets to decide how long she will stay in prison. According to AP News, the prosecutors have not stated if they will ask for consecutive sentences on the fourth convictions. If the judge agrees then she could be facing up to 60 years in prison while the maximum term for one count of involuntary manslaughter is 15 years.