In a landmark verdict, a Michigan jury on Thursday (March 14) convicted a father for manslaughter over the crimes of his child.
James Crumbley, the father of a teenager who in 2021 killed four of his classmates in a mass shooting, has been found guilty after his wife Jennifer Crumbley was found culpable in a similar trial in February.
A preventable tragedy
The jury found James guilty of ignoring his 15-year-old son Ethan Crumbley’s mental health needs and buying him the gun used in the November 2021 attack.
Prosecutors, as per Reuters, argued that James and his wife both bore responsibility for the Oxford High School tragedy that was “preventable and foreseeable”.
Speaking at a press conference after the verdict, prosecutor Karen McDonald, said that while the verdict “does not bring back their children but it does mark a moment of accountability”.
“These parents [James and Jennifer Crumbley] could have prevented this tragedy with just the smallest of efforts,” she added, as quoted by the BBC.
Unprecedented case
This is the first time in American history that parents were put on trial over their child’s crime.
On 30 November 2021, Ethan Crumbley went on a shooting spree in his school at Oxford High School in Michigan.
The teenager, who was 15 years old at the time of the attack, killed four of his classmates and injured seven others.
The shooter, Ethan, pleaded guilty during his trial and is serving a life sentence for his crimes.
Who is to blame?
In contrast to his wife, James did not take the stand during his trial.
During her trial, Jennifer had sought to blame James for the onerous blunder that led to their son’s actions.
She had testified that her husband (James) brought their son to a gun store the day after Thanksgiving and bought him a gun as a gift.
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When asked who was responsible for storing the gun, she explicitly said “My husband is”, and claimed that she “didn’t feel comfortable” being responsible for safely storing the gun.
Amid America’s gun epidemic, a huge number of deadly firearms incidents involve young people. Due to this, pressure has been mounting to punish parents who knowingly or unknowingly make it possible for their children to get weapons.
(With inputs from agencies)
