Mother of Mich. School Shooter Found Guilty of Manslaughter

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Facts

  • Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of a Michigan teenager who shot and killed four classmates at Oxford High School, was found guilty on Monday of involuntary manslaughter in connection with her son Ethan’s shooting, setting a new precedent for parental liability.1
  • The 45-year-old is the first US parent to be convicted over his child's mass shooting, and prosecutors claim that she ignored clear warning signs from Ethan and acted criminally negligent by allowing him to have a gun at 15 years old. Ethan, now 17, is serving a lifetime sentence for his Nov. 30, 2021, massacre.2
  • The jury deliberated the verdict for 11 hours over two days and decided to charge Crumbley with all four counts of manslaughter for each victim her son killed. Jennifer will face sentencing on April 9 and could receive up to 15 years in prison and, her husband, James, has a separate trial slated for next month.3
  • The jury foreperson, called Alex, said the verdict wasn't initially unanimous, saying that evidence such as Crumbley’s text messages and her son's notebook writing played a 'huge part' in the decision. Alex added that Crumbley was the last person to possess the gun before her son's shooting spree and attributed the responsibility of securing the weapon to her.4
  • Parents of the victims offered their testimonies during the trial in addition to school officials, who said that they summoned the Crumbleys hours before the shooting because of their son's violent drawing. However, the parents refused to take Ethan home from school. Jennifer and James have been in prison for the last two years since they could not post the $500K bond while awaiting their trials.5
  • The unprecedented verdict could drastically change how parents of school shooters are dealt with in the US. Legal experts are split over how applicable the case is to other school shootings, but it is possible that the decision sets a threshold for criminal negligence.6

Sources: 1NBC (a), 2BBC News, 3ABC News (a), 4NBC (b), 5Detroit Free Press and 6ABC News (b).

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by New York Times. The jury made the morally and legally correct decision to hold Jennifer Crumbley criminally responsible for her son's school shooting, sending a message that parents must be diligent in monitoring their children's behavior. While Crumbley herself isn't a cold-blooded murderer, she should have been able to tell that her son was not in a secure mental state, yet she opted to buy her son a gun instead of getting him the help he needed.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Boston University. While some gun violence activists may celebrate Jennifer Crumbley's guilty verdict, the jury's decision could have a chilling effect on parents and gun ownership going forward. Even if Crumbley sets a new standard for criminal negligence related to a child's mass shooting, her conviction may set a new legal liability for parents. This could disproportionately impact lower-income families while not addressing the root causes of gun violence.

Predictions