Judge Cheryl Matthews made history from the bench.
The Oakland County magistrate, in Michigan, imposed 10 to 15 years in prison on James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of Ethan, who on November 30, 2021, shot and killed four classmates from the Oxford city high school. A week ago his parents had bought him the gun, an early Christmas gift.
His case marks a before and after, the jurists stressed. Until now there had been some sentences against relatives of underage gunmen. None like that, once the jury found them guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
The experts stressed that prosecutors across the country take note of this issue as a precedent to apply so that parents remember that their conduct matters.
Judge Matthews of the Pontiac court said she hopes her decision will serve as a deterrent to prevent school shootings. She said this issue is not about being for or against guns, but rather about taking preventive measures, which the Crumbleys deprecated.
On the same day of the shooting they were at the institute in the hours before, summoned to warn them of their son's problems. They even asked them to take him away immediately so he could receive psychological care. James, 47, and Jennifer, 45, spurned the advice.
His son pleaded guilty. He is serving a life sentence. Their parents will be paid for the 858 days they have been locked up, since early December 2021.
“Opportunities called again and again, louder and louder, and were ignored,” the judge stated. “No one responded and these two people should have and there's no question they didn't,” she continued in handing down the ruling.
“These convictions confirm repeated acts or the lack of acts that could have stopped an oncoming runaway train,” the judge illustrated.
The audience assumed that James and Jennifer would meet again. They had not seen each other since the arrest and their trials were held separately.
This Tuesday (she in a prison suit with black and white stripes; he, in an orange jumpsuit) they occupied different tables. Together but not united. There they heard the emotional testimonies of the relatives of the four teenagers who one day went to school and never returned home. "When you wrote the text 'Ethan, don't do it' (in reference to Jennifer Crumbley), I wrote Madisyn, I love you, please call your mother," Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin, who had 17 years old the day he lost his life.
There were other similar appearances from other family members in which they accentuated the irreparable pain of that day.
Jennifer responded to this, showing “deep remorse.” She assured that they had been “good parents, average.” Her husband also expressed pain, but clarified that “the whole truth is not known.” The judge opted for the harshest sentencing range.
