James Crumbley, the father of a Michigan school shooter, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Thursday, a second conviction against the teen’s parents who were accused of failing to secure a gun at home and failing to address signs of his acute mental turmoil, reports the Associated Press. The jury verdict means James Crumbley, 47, joined his wife Jennifer as a cause of the killing of four students at Oxford High School in 2021. They had separate trials as the first parents charged in a mass school shooting committed by their child. Jennifer Crumbley, 45, was convicted of the same charge in February.
After the verdict was announced, a sheriff’s deputy removed a dress tie from his neck, shackled him at the waist and returned him to jail. Defense attorney Mariell Lehman said Crumbley “obviously feels terrible” about what happened at the school. He and his wife each face a possible minimum sentence of as much as 10 years in prison on April 9. Prosecutors focused on the parents’ response to a morbid drawing on Ethan Crumbley’s math assignment a few hours before the shooting, and the teen’s access to a Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun purchased by James Crumbley four days earlier. Ethan, 15, made a ghastly drawing of a gun and a wounded man on a math assignment and added disturbing phrases, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. My life is useless.” James and Jennifer Crumbley declined to take Ethan home after a brief meeting at the school, and staff didn’t demand it. A counselor, concerned about suicidal ideations, told them to seek help for the boy within 48 hours. Ethan told counselor Shawn Hopkins that he was sad over the death of his dog and grandmother and the loss of a friend who had abruptly moved away.