The parents of a teenage school shooter have become the first in US history to be sentenced and held criminally responsible for a massacre carried out by their child.
James and Jennifer Crumbley have each been given 10 to 15 years in prison after failing to prevent their son, Ethan Crumbley, from killing four classmates in the November 2021 Oxford High School shooting in Michigan.
Both parents apologized in Oakland County Circuit Court before hearing their sentences.
‘I stand today not to ask for your forgiveness, as I know it may be beyond reach, but to express my sincerest apologies for the pain that has been caused,’ Jennifer, 46, said to the victims’ relatives in the room.
Her husband, 47, said: ‘I cannot express how much I wish that I had known what was going on with him or what was going to happen, because I absolutely would have done a lot of things differently.’
James and Jennifer were convicted in separate jury trials of involuntary manslaughter in March and February, respectively. They were the first parents ever in America to be convicted over deaths resulting from a massacre by their child.
Judge Cheryl Matthews handed down their sentences in Pontiac on Tuesday afternoon.
‘Parents are not expected to be psychic, but these convictions are not about poor parenting,’ said Matthews.
‘These convictions confirm repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train – repeatedly ignoring things that would make a reasonable person feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up.’
Ethan, who was 15 years old at the time of the massacre and is now 17, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December.
Prosecutors said Ethan and his parents did not inform school officials that James had purchased a gun, which Ethan took to school in his backpack and used to shoot dead Justin Shilling, 17; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St Juliana, 14; and Tate Myre, 16.
Defense attorneys for the parents argued they could not have known their son would commit deadly violence.
James said he was wrongly convicted and that his sentence should equal the time he has already served behind bars, prosecutors said. Jennifer requested to be sentenced to house arrest instead of prison.
Before the judge announced the punishment, James and Jennifer hardly looked at each other while they listened to sorrowful statements from the victim.
'You've shown no regret or consideration for our family,' said Nicole Beausoliels, the mother of Madisyn. 'Your punishment should not include the word involuntary.'
Jill Soave, Justin's mother, described the tragedy as 'completely avoidable'.
'If they had just taken action, your honor, anything, to change the course events on November 30,' she said, 'Then our four angels would be here today.'
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