What happened
A jury in Oakland County, Michigan, late Thursday found James Crumbley, 47, guilty of involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent his teenage son from killing four fellow students at Oxford High School in 2021. His wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty on identical charges in February.
Who said what
“James Crumbley is not on trial for what his son did,” but what Crumbley “didn’t do,” notably taking the “tragically small measure” of securing his handgun, prosecutor Karen McDonald said. Prosecutors provided “no evidence that James had any knowledge that his son was a danger to anyone,” said Crumbley’s lawyer Mariell Lehman.
The commentary
The Crumbley trials “became a lightning rod” in a “national effort to hold some parents responsible for enabling deadly violence by their children,” The New York Times said. Since their arrests, shooters’ “parents in other states have pleaded guilty to charges of reckless conduct or neglect.”
What next?
Jennifer and James Crumbley are scheduled to be sentenced on April. Each faces up to 10 years in prison. Their son is serving a life sentence without parole.