Jury must decide whether Michigan school shooter is also guilty

Ethan Crumbley, who was often left home alone, texted his mother in March 2021 that he had seen a demon in their house, a demon hurling dishes across the kitchen. Days later, his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, discussed how their teenage son was “excited and excited,” weighing whether to give him Xanax.

The following November, James Crumbley, ignoring what seemed like warning signs that Ethan was having mental health problems, bought his son a semiautomatic pistol. Ethan, then 15, used the gun to kill four Oxford High School students, the worst school shooting in Michigan history.

On Tuesday, 45-year-old Jennifer Crumbley will appear in court charged with involuntary manslaughter for the deaths — new territory when it comes to prosecuting school shootings. James Crumbley, 47, faces a separate trial scheduled for March also on charges of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the killings.

While adults have been prosecuted before when children commit violent crimes, the Oxford High School case goes a step further by attempting to hold parents criminally liable for an intentional mass shooting. Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald has said the Crumbleys are guilty for giving their son access to a gun while ignoring warnings that he was in trouble.

Both parents have pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers have said they had no idea Ethan was capable of such violence.

“One of the fundamental principles of American criminal law is that you are not responsible for someone else's actions,” said Ekow N. Yankah, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. But Mr Yankah said the Crumbleys provided perfect evidence to test that principle, pointing to what he called a “damning” set of facts against the couple.

“It is difficult to think of a set of facts that are more inviting for prosecution,” he said.

Extensive trial testimony and court documents have portrayed the couple as negligent parents. They drank heavily, fought loudly in front of Ethan, and often left him home alone, despite his shaky mental health.

After James Crumbley bought the gun, his wife took Ethan to the shooting range.

When a teacher reported seeing Ethan searching for ammunition online, his mother didn't seem concerned.

“LOL I'm not mad at you,” Jennifer Crumbley texted her son. “You have to learn not to get caught.”

On the day of the attack, after a teacher found Ethan with a violent drawing depicting a shooting, his parents refused a school counselor's request to take him home.

After their son's arrest, the Crumbleys appeared to flee to avoid prosecution and police discovered them hiding in the basement of a Detroit art studio. (Attorneys for the parents said the Crumbleys had not fled, but had left town for their own safety, and planned to return for the arraignment.)

It is unclear whether Ethan, now 17, will be called to testify, but his lawyers said they will advise him to invoke his right to remain silent. Ethan appeals his life sentence without parole.

Unable to post $1 million combined bail, the parents have been held in the Oakland County Jail for more than two years. Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl A. Matthews will preside over both trials, which will take place separately at the couple's request.

Since the shooting on Nov. 30, 2021, Ms. McDonald, the prosecutor in affluent Oakland County, outside Detroit, has turned gun violence into a personal crusade. In an interview shortly after the shooting, Ms. McDonald said she saw the attack as an opportunity to promote responsible gun ownership.

She also formed a committee to study ways to prevent gun violence. Spurred in part by the shooting, the Michigan Legislature recently passed a measure requiring gun owners to store their firearms in a locked container when a minor is likely to be on the premises. Ethan said the gun he used was unlocked.

In 2000, Arthur Busch, a former prosecutor in nearby Flint, Michigan, handled a school shooting case there. Kayla Rolland, a first-grader in a suburb near Flint, was shot and killed by a six-year-old classmate.

Prosecutors said the boy, who found the gun in a home where he lived with relatives, treated the weapon as if it were a toy. His uncle, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter for leaving the gun accessible, pleaded no contest and spent two years and five months in prison before being released on probation.

Still, Mr. Busch said the Crumbley case could be difficult to prosecute.

“The fact that they bought him a gun when he was having serious mental health issues is pretty reckless,” Mr. Busch said. “But the more the public looks at this, I think there are parents who might say, 'That could be me. I have an insolent, oppositional child and I'm liable for that? That doesn't seem fair to me. ''