As predicted, a jury convicted James Crumbley of four counts of involuntary manslaughter. for his role in the 2021 school shooting of his son at Oxford High School in Michigan.
His son, Ethan Crumbley, opened fire at Oxford High School in November 2021, killing four of his classmates: Tate Myre, 16; Hana Santa Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17, and injured seven other people.
The jury’s decision after approximately 10 hours of deliberations culminates a historic case that for the first time in the United States held the parents of a mass shooter at a school criminally responsible.
“These were egregious facts in this case. These parents could have prevented this tragedy. It was foreseeable,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said after the verdict.
James Crumbley’s conviction comes weeks after his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was also found guilty of the same four charges for his role in the shooting.
During the father’s trial, prosecutors argued that James Crumbley could have prevented the shooting by securing the gun used in the attack and preventing his son’s access to it. He is also accused of failing to get his son help after he showed warning signs, including violent drawings found on a math test the morning of the shooting.
James Crumbley, 47, faces up to 15 years in prison for the four counts of involuntary manslaughter, each of which represents a murdered student. Jennifer Crumbley, 45, will be sentenced in April.
Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December after pleading guilty to 24 charges.including first-degree premeditated murder and terrorism resulting in death.
The Crumbleys represent an unprecedented case of parents charged in connection with a shooting carried out by their son.
After the verdict, the prosecutor in the case said it represented “accountability.”
“This verdict does not give them their children back, but it does mark a moment of accountability and will hopefully be another step in addressing, ending and preventing gun violence,” said Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. whose office prosecuted the case.
“In this case there were atrocious events. “These parents could have avoided this tragedy, it was foreseeable, with the slightest effort,” he insisted.
Prosecutors said James Crumbley had bought Ethan a 9mm Sig Sauer as a gift the day after Thanksgiving, at a difficult time in his son’s life when he was struggling emotionally because his best friend had moved away.
His attorney, Mariell Lehman, said after the verdict that James Crumbley “did not know that his son could or would harm anyone or that he had obtained the means to do so. James feels terrible for what he happened that day to Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Justin Shilling and many others affected.”
The parents of the four slain children spoke out after the guilty verdict and said no other parents should have to go through what they did.
“We can put people on the moon, we can build skyscrapers, huge monuments like the Hoover Dam, and we can’t keep our kids safe in schools,” said Steve St. Juliana, Hana’s father. “I think people just need to wake up and take action. “Stop accepting excuses.”
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