The mother of a teenager who carried out a mass shooting at a Michigan school is headed to trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in an extraordinary effort to place criminal responsibility on her parents for the deaths of four students.
Jennifer and James Crumbley are not accused of knowing their son planned to kill a fellow student at Oxford High School in 2021.
But prosecutors say they made the gun accessible to Ethan Crumbley, ignored his mental health needs and refused to take it home when confronted with his violent drawing at school on the day of the attack.
Involuntary manslaughter has been “well defined for a long time, and the elements are definite and clear: gross negligence causing death,” assistant prosecutor Joseph Shada said in a court filing.
Jury selection moved slowly Tuesday in the trial of 45-year-old Jennifer Crumbley. Hundreds of people have been summoned to court in Oakland County, 40 miles north of Detroit — a large pool to account for people who might be excused because of their feelings about guns and the highly publicized tragedy, among other factors.
Jennifer Crumbley is not accused of knowing about her son’s plan to kill a fellow student at Oxford High School in 2021 REUTERS
“The question is whether you can be fair and impartial,” Judge Cheryl Matthews told the first group of 50 people.
James Crumbley, 47, will face a separate trial in March.
In December, Ethan was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder, terrorism and other crimes.
Ethan Crumbly took the stand and appeared in court before being sentenced on Friday, Dec. 8. 2023, in Pontiac, Mich. AP
This is a notable case: The Crumbleys are the first parents to be charged in a mass shooting at a US school.
The mother of a 6-year-old Virginia boy who injured his teacher with a gun was recently sentenced to two years in prison for child neglect.
“I think prosecutors feel pressured when these gun-related offenses happen,” said Eve Brensike Primus, who teaches criminal procedure at the University of Michigan Law School.
“People are angry, and they’re looking for someone to take responsibility for it.”
There’s no disputing that James Crumbley bought the gun with Ethan by his side four days before the shooting — the teenager called it, “my new beau.” Jennifer Crumbley took him to the shooting range and described the trip on Instagram as a “mother and son day.”
The day before the shooting, the school notified Jennifer Crumbley that Ethan, who is 15, was looking at bullets on his phone. “I’m not mad,” he texted her.
Jennifer and James Crumbley, parents of Ethan Crumbley, appear in court in Rochester Hills, Michigan on February 8, 2022. AP
“You have to learn not to get caught up.”
The defense attorney insisted the killing was unforeseeable by the parents. They liken the charge to trying to fit a “square peg into a round hole.”
“After every school shooting, the media and those affected are quick to point out the so-called ‘red flags’ they missed in the shooter’s life,” said Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman in an unsuccessful effort to get the Michigan Supreme Court to dismiss the charges. .
Jennifer Crumbley speaks with her attorney, Shannon Smith, as she and James Crumbley appear in Oakland County District Court in Rochester Hills, Mich., on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021. AP
“But the truth of the matter is that one cannot predict the unimaginable.”
During his sentencing, Ethan, now 17, told the judge he was a “very bad person” who couldn’t help himself.
“They didn’t know and I didn’t tell them what I was planning, so they’re innocent,” he said of his parents.
James Crumbley (L) and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of Ethan Crumbley, a teenager accused of killing four students in a shooting at Oxford High School, in Michigan. AP
Hours before the shooting, the Crumbleys were called to Oxford High School.
Ethan had drawn a violent image on a maths assignment with the message: “Thinking never stops. Help me.”
Students pay their respects at a memorial at Oxford High School a day after the deadliest US school shooting of the year that killed and injured several people, in Oxford, Michigan Dec. 1, 2021. REUTERS
The parents were told to take him to counseling, but they refused to remove him from the school and left campus after less than 30 minutes, according to investigators.
Ethan had brought a gun from home that day, November 30, 2021, even though no one checked his backpack.
The shooter surrendered to police after killing four students and wounding seven others.
The parents were charged a few days later, but they were not easily found.
Police said they were hiding in a building in Detroit.
The Crumbleys have been jailed for more than two years awaiting trial, unable to post $500,000 bond.
Involuntary manslaughter in Michigan carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
