CNN
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A Michigan jury began deliberating Wednesday in the manslaughter trial of James Crumbley, the father of the teenager who fatally shot four students at his high school in 2021, in a case tried a month after the shooter’s mother was convicted of the same charges.
In closing arguments, prosecutors argued Crumbley was responsible for the mass shooting because he was “grossly negligent,” while the defense said the prosecution’s case lacked needed evidence.
Crumbley bought a SIG Sauer 9mm gun for his son, failed to properly secure it, ignored his son’s spiraling mental health and did not take “reasonable care” to prevent foreseeable danger, Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney Karen McDonald said.
“James Crumbley is not on trial for what his son did,” she said. “James Crumbley is on trial for what he did and what he didn’t do.”
In response, defense attorney Mariell Lehman said the prosecution’s case was based on “assumptions and hindsight” and asserted Crumbley simply didn’t know about his son’s issues or plans.
“You heard no testimony and you saw no evidence that James had any knowledge that his son was a danger to anyone,” she said.
Mandi Wright/Pool/Detroit Free Press/AP
James Crumbley declined to testify in his own defense at his manslaughter trial.
The closing arguments came more than two years after Ethan Crumbley, then 15, used the SIG Sauer 9mm weapon to kill four students and wound six students and a teacher at Oxford High School on November 30, 2021.
James Crumbley has pleaded not guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. His wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was convicted of the same charges last month in a case highlighted by her own testimony in which she pushed blame onto others and expressed no regrets.
The cases against the parents test the limits of who is responsible for a mass shooting. Prosecutors aiming to expand the scope of blame in mass shootings have used an unusual and novel legal strategy by arguing the shooter’s parents are responsible for the deaths because they got him a gun and disregarded signs of his mental health issues.
Parents have previously faced liability for their child’s actions, such as with neglect or firearms charges. Yet Jennifer Crumbley’s case was the first time a parent of a school shooter was held directly responsible for the killings.
Earlier Wednesday, the prosecution rested its case after calling 15 witnesses over the past week.
The defense called one witness, James Crumbley’s sister Karen, who testified that she had spent several days with the Crumbley family in April and June 2021 and did not notice anything concerning. The defense then rested its case.
With the jury out of the room, James Crumbley declined to testify. “It is my decision to remain silent,” he said.
Ethan was sentenced last year to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to terrorism causing death, four counts of murder and 19 other related charges. He did not testify in either of his parents’ trials, as his attorneys said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right to silence.
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