The parents of the teenager who killed four students in a school shooting in Oxford, Michigan, in 2021, were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison on Tuesday, CNN reported. They are the first parents to be held criminally responsible for the shootings committed by their children as the US continues to face incidents of gunfire on campus and mass shootings. The couple has been sentenced weeks after being convicted of manslaughter. James and Jennifer Crumbley, who each had faced up to 15 years in prison, have already been in prison for over two years since their arrest in a Detroit warehouse days after the shooting.<\/p>\n
Although James and Jennifer Crumbley were tried separately, however, their sentencing took place together in an Oakland County courtroom, according to a CNN report. Several family members of the four students killed in the shooting made emotional victim impact statements before the judge announced the sentence. Justin Shilling\u2019s mother said \u201cthe ripple effects of both James and Jennifer\u2019s failures to act\u201d to stop their son from conducting deadly shootings \u201chave devastated us all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another victim, Hana St Juliana\u2019s father, said the Crumbleys continue to deflect blame. He further said that his daughter\u2019s death \u201cdestroyed a large portion of my very soul.\u201d In a statement to the court, Jennifer Crumbley offered condolences to the victims and their families. She stated that her previous statement, which she made in her defence during her trial in February, was \u201ccompletely misunderstood.\u201d Previously, Jennifer Crumbley had said, \u201cI\u2019ve asked myself if I would have done anything differently, and I wouldn\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, before sentencing, she said if she knew her son was capable of the crimes committed, her answer would have \u201cabsolutely been different.\u201d James Crumbley apologised to the victims, something he said he had not been able to do yet. He said he did not know that his son was planning a shooting in school and requested the judge, \u201csentence me in a fair way,\u201d CNN reported. Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald requested the judge to exceed the sentencing guidelines for the Crumbleys and consider the \u201cdevastating impact of their gross negligence that was foreseeable.\u201d<\/p>\n
In separate pre-sentencing memos, the attorneys for the parents requested the court to sentence them to less than five years in prison. Judge Cheryl Matthews said the decision should be a deterrent to try to stop school shootings in the future. Matthews said, \u201cThese convictions confirm repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.\u201d The lead prosecutor in James and Jennifer Crumbley\u2019s criminal trials stressed that it was \u201cdisappointing\u201d that the parents did not express remorse.<\/p>\n
The sentence came after James was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March in a trial that came weeks after the shooter\u2019s mother was convicted of the same charges. He was convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter, a charge that carries a maximum punishment of up to 15 years in prison, which would run concurrently. Meanwhile, Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty in February of all four counts of involuntary manslaughter in a novel legal case. She had pleaded not guilty to the charges in the mass shooting at Oxford High School. Crumbley\u2019s son, Ethan Crumbley, then 15, killed four students and injured six students and a teacher at Oxford High School on November 30, 2021.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters after the Crumbleys sentencing, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said, \u201cFeeling bad is natural, and we don\u2019t dispute that they feel bad \u2026 that\u2019s not what\u2019s important to victims of crime.\u201d \u201cWhat they want and need most of all is remorse, which means acknowledgment of the wrongdoing and some sort of reconciliation or apology for that \u2014 and that didn\u2019t come,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
McDonald said she did not think that the case will set a precedent for parents of other school shooters. She stated, \u201cThere\u2019s a difference between precedent-setting and rare, and this is really a rare set of facts, it really is,\u201d CNN reported. The prosecutor said, \u201cMost of us know that you have to exercise reasonable care, at least to prevent other people from the dangers that you know are foreseeable.\u201d She said her team did the \u201cabsolute best\u201d they could and the families of victims are aware of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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