Father Of Michigan School Shooter Convicted Of Manslaughter

Father of a Michigan school shooter, James Crumbley who killed four students has been convicted of manslaughter.

Gatekeepers News reports that the trial heard that James, had ignored his 15-year-old son’s mental health needs, buying him the handgun he used in the November 2021 attack.

The jury deliberated for just over a day before coming to the verdict.

In a related development, his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, is due to be sentenced next month after being convicted on the same charges.

James was in court on Thursday evening for the verdict and appeared to show little reaction as it was read out.

This case marks the first time parents have been charged with manslaughter over their child’s role in a shooting in the US.

Their son, Ethan, killed fellow students Tate Myre, 16; Hana St Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17, while. even people were also injured in the shooting.

He is serving a life sentence in prison without parole.

Steve and Ai St Juliana lost their 14-year-old daughter Hana, who they said was kind and always checked in on others

On Thursday evening, Hana’s father, Steve St Juliana, said the prosecution of the Crumbleys was “just the beginning steps” when it came to dealing with gun violence in the US.

He said, “Our children are dying on a daily basis in mass murders and we do very little about this.

“We can put people on the Moon, we can build skyscrapers, huge monuments like the Hoover Dam and we can’t keep our kids safe in schools.”

In February he told the BBC that “every day without [Hana] is a struggle”.

“She was always laughing, always causing people to laugh,” he recalled.

Prosecutor Karen McDonald, speaking at a press conference with parents of the four victims, said the verdict “does not bring back their children but it does mark a moment of accountability.

“These parents [the Crumbleys] could have prevented this tragedy with just the smallest of efforts.”

Earlier this week, McDonald in her closing arguments to the jury of six men and six women, called the attack at the Oxford High School “preventable and foreseeable”.

She added that James Crumbley’s actions had been “rare and egregious”.

The prosecutor argued that he did not take even the slightest measures to ensure his son was not a threat after giving him a semi-automatic pistol as a gift.

Prosecutors also said the Crumbleys had not done enough to address their son’s declining mental health.

On the morning of the shooting, the two parents cut short a school meeting about a disturbing drawing their son had made to go to work and had declined to take him home.

School officials sent him back to class without checking his backpack, which contained a gun.

The Crumbleys were charged by police within days of the killings.

Initially, the parents were supposed to be tried together but in November sought separate trials.

Both are scheduled to be sentenced on 9 April. A count of manslaughter carries a penalty of up to 15 years.