In a historic verdict in the United States, a country so protective of weapons, Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the teenager who killed four classmates with his gun at an Oxford (Michigan) high school in November 2021, was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter. This means at least fifteen years in prison, a penalty never imposed on a father or mother for the criminal action of her minor son.
While awaiting the trial of her husband, James, scheduled for March, his wife has waited a day and a half in the hope that perhaps the twelve members of the jury (six men and six women) would not dare to take this step with a verdict unprecedented until now in the United States. But, after an oral hearing in the Pontiac court that lasted a week, the jury entered the deliberation room on Monday and early on Tuesday afternoon gave voice to a punishment never experienced. It can mark a before and after in the face of this deadly epidemic. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 9.
It is a case that has never been faced in this dimension and that is seen as a test of the limits regarding responsibilities in mass killings and, specifically, of parents when the perpetrators are adolescents. But not only parents, but anyone who is aware that someone has erratic behavior, remains silent and then leads to armed action.
On other occasions there have been cases in which parents have received convictions for reckless or negligent actions in response to a misdeed committed by their children, they have even received short prison sentences, but they have never been charged with involuntary manslaughter with a much more severe sentence.
Legal experts stressed that this is an innovative case that can have a great impact on society by recognizing the guilt of parents for their children's access to weapons, disregarding the signs of psychological torment they suffer. They maintained that this ruling will encourage other prosecutors to go down this path. The issue also has the capacity to create real incentives, as valuable as remaining free, for parents to be more cautious when it comes to supervising their children and facilitating their access to weapons.
Others added, however, that these parents are nothing more than the scapegoats for political inaction against this scourge of armed violence, which is more than tolerated, and the open bar enjoyed by the arms market.
"This verdict is not going to give me my son back, but it can help others not have to go through this ordeal and it is good news for the functioning of the community," said Craig Shilling, whose son, Justin, died that day. at the Oxford Institute.
Ethan Crumbley, now 17 years old, accepted a life sentence. The prosecutors were not satisfied when they considered that the parents played an essential role in this massacre by not heeding the obvious warnings of the mental problems suffered by their son and, above all, by giving him a Sig Sauer, a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol. ., as an early Christmas gift, just a few days before he committed the massacre.
The 45-year-old mother pleaded not guilty to all charges and assured that she did not observe anything strange despite the multiple evidence, for her role in the massacre on November 30, 2021. The four dead and six injured were only recorded shortly after the parents attended an emergency meeting at Oxford High School. The pedagogical leaders of the center called them to alert them of the negative signs that his son Ethan, who was 15 years old, was giving about his mental health.
They were told that he had left many traces of discomfort and his potential danger, with drawings of guns and notes such as “a bloodbath everywhere.” The teachers asked that the teenager be taken away immediately. James and Jennifer ignored him. Not only that, but they hid from the teachers that just a few days ago they had bought him a gun. He carried it in his backpack.
The purchase was made by the father. The mother took him to practice with that weapon. Upon her return, on her Instagram account, she posted photos of herself saying that she had been enjoying a nice evening of mother and son shooting. They were the eve of tragedy.
