Jennifer Crumbley, mother of the Oxford High School, Mi., shooter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter by a jury on Tuesday, after an emotional two-week trial, the Washington Post reports. The jury of six men and six women deliberated for about 11 hours before finding Crumbley, 45, guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of Hana St. Juliana, 14, Tate Myre, 16, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17. Ethan Crumbley's parents bought their son a gun four days before the shooting as an early Christmas gift. They were the first parents of a mass shooter to face such serious charges in connection to their child’s crime. Crumbley’s husband, James, 47, faces identical charges next month.
Ethan Crumbley, then 15, brought a gun to school on Nov. 30, 2021, and killed four students, wounding seven others. He was charged as an adult and was sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty to two dozen charges, including terrorism. Some prosecutors are charging the parents of juvenile shooters as they and the public reassess who can be held accountable for a child’s violent acts. “Unfortunately, I think the sea change is that as we’re grappling with an ocean of firearms, we are going to — and should — see more of these prosecutions brought,” said Eric Rinehart, the Lake County, Ill., prosecutor who charged the father of his state's Highland Park shooter for sponsoring the shooter’s firearms card despite knowing of his mental health issues. “This verdict confirms that the legal system will hold parents criminally responsible when they [allow] their kids access to firearms and they are also aware of their kids' dangerous statements or behavior.”
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