Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire MI school shooter's parents might be charged

DETROIT — The parents of a teenager who killed four students at a Michigan high school can face trial for involuntary manslaughter, the state appeals court said Thursday in a groundbreaking case of criminal responsibility for the acts of a child.

The murders would not have happened if the parents hadn't purchased a gun for Ethan Crumbley or if they had taken him home from Oxford High School on the day of the shooting, when staff became alarmed about his extreme drawings, the appeals court said.

The court noted that the legal threshold at this stage of the case is fairly low under Michigan law.

"Whether a jury actually finds that causation has been proven after a full trial, where the record will almost surely be more expansive — including evidence produced by defendants — is an issue separate from what we decide today," the court said in a 3-0 opinion.

James and Jennifer Crumbley are accused of failing to secure a gun and ignoring the mental health needs of their son before the shootings. Besides the deaths of four students, seven people were wounded.

Crumbley, 16, has pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder and could be sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was 15 at the time of the November 2021 shooting.

Attorneys for the parents insist that what would happen that day was not foreseeable. They acknowledge that bad decisions were made but not ones that should rise to involuntary manslaughter charges.

Judge Michael Riordan said parents shouldn't be hauled to court for "subpar, odd or eccentric" care of their kids. But the evidence against the Crumbleys, he added, is much more serious.

"The morning of the shooting, EC drew a picture of a body that appeared to have two bullet holes in the torso, apparently with blood streaming out of them, which was near another drawing of a handgun that resembled the gun his parents ... had very recently gifted to him," Riordan said.

It was "visual evidence" that Ethan was contemplating gunshot wounds on someone, the judge said.

The Crumbleys were summoned to school for a meeting about the drawing, but didn't take Ethan home.

The parents' lawyers declined to comment Thursday, citing a gag order. They'll likely ask the Michigan Supreme Court to review the case, particularly because that court had ordered the appeals court to hear arguments.

But if he wants his nuts cut off, his parents probably have no say in the matter.

But if he wants his nuts cut off, his parents probably have no say in the matter.

A MI jury, they are toast.

I’m may get roasted over this but the parents are complete scumbags in this and absolutely [bleep] the bed. The school resource officer and staff were incompetent as well.

Are you guys serious?

Parents buy their already troubled 15 year old a handgun and give it to him to keep and store with no restrictions on it?

I gave my kid a gun pellet gun when he was 8. Yes, it was "his" but it was fugging well locked up where he couldn't get it when he wasn't using it under my supervision.

Give your fugging heads a shake.

I too think the parents were indeed reckless. Holding an individual responsible for the actions of another, however, is too much of a stretch in my book.

I'm fine with such where one is a participant though. I.e. driving the getaway car or standing watch as crimes are committed.

What do you know about this case? Just generalities, ginned up by the prosecutor?
I wouldn't trust anything put out by the MSM on this. It reminds me too much of a guy having a "Take a number" hand grenade display, getting raised, and the news saying he had a possible destructive device explosive.

Exactly.

The parents may well be dimwits but they didn’t pull the trigger and didn’t expect their child to either. As someone else said if they’re going to charge these parents they need to start charging the parents of every gangbanger in Detroit and Chicago too.

No joke. WTF is wrong with this place?

Yup, they're a dumpster fire +P. Now if only they'd go after the parents of negros who bring weapons to school.