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The father of a teenager who carried out a gun attack in a Michigan school has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a case that created headlines across the United States for seeking to find a parent criminally responsible for the actions of their child.
James Crumbley (47) is the father of Ethan Crumbley, a 15-year-old boy who took a gun from home and killed four students at Oxford high school on November 30th, 2021.
In February, Ethan’s mother, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, raising the prospect that parents of future school attackers will also face trial in American courts.
The Crumbleys are the first US parents to be prosecuted in such a way.
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During the five-day trial for James Crumbley, prosecutors showed that the gun, a newly acquired Sig Sauer 9mm, was not safely secured at the Crumbley home.
Although Michigan did not have a storage law at that time, James Crumbley had a legal duty to protect others from possible harm by his son, prosecutors argued.
“James Crumbley is not on trial for what his son did,” prosecutor Karen McDonald told the jury. “James Crumbley is on trial for what he did and for what he didn’t do.”
He “doesn’t get a pass because somebody else” actually pulled the trigger, she said.
Ethan’s mental state was slipping on the day of the shooting: he made a macabre drawing of a gun and a wounded man on a math assignment and wrote: “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. Blood everywhere. The world is dead.”
[ Parents of teen accused over school shooting plead not guilty to involuntary manslaughter ]
[ ‘A step toward accountability’: US school shooter’s mother convicted of involuntary manslaugher ]
But the Crumbleys declined to take Ethan home after a brief meeting at his school, accepting only a list of mental health providers as they returned to work. They did not tell school staff that a handgun similar to one in the drawing had been bought by James Crumbley just four days earlier.
Ethan pulled the gun from his backpack a few hours later and began shooting. No one had checked the bag.
The Oxford victims were Justin Shilling (17); Madisyn Baldwin (17); Hana St Juliana (14); and Tate Myre (16).
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The verdicts – one each for the four victims – were read out about 7.15pm local time at the end of a full day of deliberations.
James Crumbley listened to the outcome through headphones worn throughout the trial because of a hearing problem. He shook his head from side to side as the jury foreman said “guilty”.
Family members of some of the students who died wept quietly and gripped each other’s hands in the second row of the courtroom gallery.
“I know this verdict will not bring them back,” said Ms McDonald, the prosecutor, “but I hope it will serve as an example of the importance of holding those who enable gun violence accountable.”
James and Jennifer Crumbley are the first US parents to be charged with having responsibility for a mass school shooting by a child.
Earlier, in November 2021, Ethan wrote in his journal that he needed help for his mental health “but my parents don’t listen to me so I can’t get any help”.
Defence attorneys have said James Crumbley did not know Ethan knew where to find the gun at home and that school officials seemed more concerned about him harming himself, not others.
Ethan Crumbley - now 17- is serving a life sentence for murder and terrorism. – Guardian/AP