Michigan school shooter's parents each sentenced to 10-15 years in prison

[MrDawn]

Your thoughts?

The first parents to ever be charged, then convicted, in their child’s mass shooting at a U.S. school were both sentenced Tuesday to 10 to 15 years in prison after facing the victims during a sentencing hearing in a Michigan courtroom.

James Crumbley, 47, and wife Jennifer, 46, were sentenced one after another by Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews as they appeared together for the first time since they attended joint hearings before their landmark trials were separated last fall. Their son, Ethan, now 17, pleaded guilty as an adult to the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit and was sentenced to life in prison.


Matthews' sentencing decision was in line with what Oakland County prosecutors had asked for after both parents were found guilty on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each of the students their son killed.

Matthews told the Crumbleys that the convictions reached by jurors were "not about poor parenting," but how they repeatedly ignored warning signs that a "reasonable person" would have seen.

"These convictions confirm repeated acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train," she said.

The couple will get credit for time served in an Oakland County jail since their arrests in the wake of the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting. The pair sat apart at the defense table with their lawyers beside them as the families of the four students who were killed had earlier asked for the maximum sentence to be imposed.

"When you texted, 'Ethan don't do it,' I was texting, 'Madisyn I love you, please call mom,'" Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of shooting victim Madisyn Baldwin, 17, told the Crumbleys. "When you found out about the lives your son took that day, I was still waiting for my daughter in the parking lot."

"The lack of compassion you've shown is outright disgusting," she added through tears.

Parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley both sentenced to 10-15 years for involuntary manslaughter

James and Jennifer Crumbley were both convicted of involuntary manslaughter in their son Ethan’s deadly shooting at Oxford High School in 2021.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[NeoMetallix]

Yeah, if they were so aware that they texted him not to do it, that's just shit negligence to put it lightly.

I would have been calling the police at that point.

 

[Dee]

I read a few of the text messages among mom, dad, and son and they are just disgusting. The evidence provided is really disheartening knowing their son was showing signs of mental health problems, and the fact that these parents--in the end--did not do everything in their power to help him, is really disheartening. The ruling is reasonable in this case. Had they actually tried to get him help and, you know, not done something so stupid like purchase him a weapon, then maybe I could disagree that the punishment is too harsh. It is absolutely not. They deserve this.