The mother of a Michigan teenager who killed four classmates at a high school near Detroit has been convicted of manslaughter. Prosecutors argued that she bore some responsibility because both she and her husband gave their son a gun, and ignored warning signs that he could become violent.
45-year-old Jennifer Crumbley is said to be the first parent who faced a manslaughter charge in the United States due to a school shooting carried out by their child. Crumbley faced four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each victim of the 2021 shooting. Her husband, 47-year-old James Crumbley, is slated to face his own trial on the same charges in March.
Ethan Crumbley was 15-years-old at the time of the shooting, which took place at Oxford High School and involved a semi-automatic handgun. He plead guilty in 2022 to four counts of first-degree murder, and other charges, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December 2023.
The trial of Jennifer Crumbley was believed to be the first in which a parent faced a manslaughter charge in the United States stemming from a school shooting by their child. She faced four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each of the victims at Oxford High School in the 2021 shootings.
Oakland County prosecutors argued that, though Crumbley did not pull the trigger, she stored the gun and ammunition in a negligent manner and is criminally responsible for the deaths.
Furthermore, they argued that she and her husband both knew their son was mentally on a "downward spiral" and faced posed a threat to others. Yet, he was allowed access to firearms. The gun used to carry out the killings was a 9mm pistol purchased as a Christmas present.
Shannon Smith, the defense attorney, argued that his client was not responsible for buying or storing the weapon and that there were no real warning signs that he would kill his classmates.
The mother, testifying in her own defense, said that her husband was responsible for the firearms in the home and, while her son had been anxious about getting into college, she did not think that he needed therapy.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald told jurors during closing arguments on Feb. 2 that Jennifer Crumbley had "done the unthinkable."
