In a rare and well followed case, the parents of a kid who carried out a deadly school shooting in the US state of Michigan were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison on Tuesday.
The first parents of a school shooter to be found guilty of manslaughter in the US for their child’s acts were Jennifer Crumbley and her husband James, who gave their son the rifle as a Christmas present.
They were each given a sentence of 10 to 15 years in prison by Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews, with credit given for the 28 months they had already served in jail. Now seventeen years old, their son Ethan is serving a life sentence for the shooting at Oxford High School on November 30, 2021, which left four students dead and seven others injured. Oxford High School is located 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of Detroit. “These convictions are not about poor parenting,” Matthews said at an emotional hearing in Pontiac, Michigan, attended by relatives of the victims. “These convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.” In addition to reprimanding James Crumbley for permitting “unfettered access” to firearms and ammunition within the family home, the judge also informed Jennifer Crumbley that her parenting style was “dispassionate and apathetic.
“Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of one of the deceased pupils, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, addressed the Crumbleys in court prior to her sentencing, stating: “Not only did your son kill my daughter, but you both did as well.” “The blood of our children is on your hands,” said Craig Shilling, the father of Justin Shilling, 17. Steve St. Juliana, the father of another victim, Hana St. Juliana, 14, said her murder “has destroyed a large portion of my very soul.” “I will never walk her down the aisle,” St. Juliana said. “I am forever denied the chance to hold her or her future children in my arms.”
