James and Jennifer Crumbley have each been sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison for their role in the deadly mass shooting carried out by their son, Ethan Crumbley, at a Michigan high school in 2021.
The criminal case against the Crumbleys marked the first time in the U.S. that parents have been charged in connection with a mass shooting committed by their child.
The judge, in handing down the sentence, told the couple, "These convictions confirm repeated acts, or lack of acts, that could have halted an oncoming runaway train. [These convictions are] about repeatedly ignoring things that make a reasonable person feel the hair on the back of their neck stand up."
The Crumbleys’ sentences were handed down after nearly an hour of victim impact statements Tuesday.
The judge granted the state’s request for 10 to 15 years in prison for each parent, with both getting credit for the 858 days already served in confinement. The Crumbleys were convicted this year by separate juries on four counts of manslaughter for failing to prevent the shooting. Prosecutors argued that the couple ignored their then-15-year-old son’s mental health issues and instead bought him a gun that he used just days later to kill four students at Oxford High School.
Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to one count of terrorism, four counts of murder and 19 other charges. He was sentenced last year to life in prison without parole.
The Crumbleys’ sentences were handed down after nearly an hour of victim impact statements Tuesday. Visibly emotional family members of the four slain students described their loss and grief and pushed for the maximum sentence.
Both Jennifer and James Crumbley also addressed the court and the families, suggesting that they were unaware of their son's plans or his emotional state. The couple continued to argue that school officials misled or did not give them sufficient information. James concluded his statement saying, "We have been prohibited from telling the whole truth. The whole truth has not been told."
In sentencing memos, prosecutors called for sentences that exceed the advisory guideline range, writing to Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews that the Crumbleys both have displayed a “lack of remorse” over their actions. The maximum term that either parent could have received was 15 years.
Prosecutors said that James Crumbley, who had asked for time served, made expletive-laden threats to prosecutor Karen McDonald on jail calls and continued to insist that he had played no role in the shooting.
Jennifer Crumbley asked that she be allowed to serve her sentence under house arrest at her attorney’s guest house, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. The request was a “slap in the face” to the shooting victims and their families, the prosecutors wrote.