James and Jennifer Crumbley will be sentenced together for their manslaughter convictions related to the 2021 school shooting of their teenage son Ethan.
The Michigan parents each face up to 15 years in prison after they were found guilty in separate trials of callously ignoring their son’s pleas for mental health support before buying him the gun he used to kill four classmates. class.
James was first led into the courtroom in an orange prison uniform before his ex-wife joined him at his lawyer’s table minutes later, and both appeared to make efforts not to look at each other and stare directly ahead.
Prosecutors have asked the judge to sentence each parent to 10 to 15 years in state prison, citing their “chilling lack of remorse.”
James was particularly criticized by prosecutors, and had his communications cut off during the trial after making a series of threatening calls to the jail, including saying that prosecutor Karen McDonald would face “retaliation.”
James and Jennifer Crumbley sat at the same table before their sentencing as they will be forced to listen to at least 11 victim impact statements.
Jennifer looks at James Crumbley during the sentencing hearing. The couple has been separated for years, asked for their trials to be separated and each spent 27 months in prison since their arrest.
Ethan, the couple’s son, was 15 years old when he opened fire on his classmates at Oxford High School in November 2021, killing four and wounding seven others. He is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
His son Ethan was 15 years old when he opened fire on classmates at Oxford High School in November 2021, killing four and wounding seven others. He is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
After the shooting, the Crumbleys fled the Oxford Township area after charges were announced against them.
They remained on the run for about a day, emptying their bank accounts and turning off their phones before being captured in a Detroit art studio, moves that took center stage in their trials.
The parents were also accused of recklessly buying Ethan the gun used in the tragedy while ignoring his pleas for help, as their jurors saw his diary detailing how his parents “wouldn’t help.”
James and Jennifer were tried separately at their own request, and their trials marked the first time the parents faced charges in the school shooting of their son. The married couple has been separated for years as both have been incarcerated since their arrest more than two years ago.
At Jennifer’s trial, her claims that she was “too busy” to help Ethan on the day of the shooting after he was caught drawing disturbing images of school shootings were rejected as the court heard humiliating revelations about her private life.
Namely, she was caught having an extramarital affair with a local fire captain amid claims that she met him during the tragedy, along with allegations about her use of online hookup apps while prosecutors painted her as a neglectful mother. .
The parents’ lawyers have responded to the prosecution’s sentencing request by asking for less than years of imprisonment for each.
Jennifer’s attorney has also requested that the 27 months she has already served be credited toward her sentence and that she be placed under house arrest ‘tied’ in her defense attorney’s home.
James Crumbley seen at his trial, held separately from his ex-wife’s trial, on February 21, 2024. Now facing sentencing, prosecutors cited him for making “threatening” jail calls during the trial.
Jennifer Crumbley was seen entering court shortly before being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on February 6, 2024.
Police say Crumbley’s first victim was freshman Phoebe Arthur (pictured), who was shot in the face but miraculously survived. In total 11 people were shot, four of whom died
Madisyn Baldwin, 17 (left) and Hana St Juliana, 14 (right), were killed in the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit.
Justin Shilling, 17 (left) and Tate Myre, 16 (right), also died in the senseless shooting.
In his request for a lenient sentence, Jennifer’s attorney said she is “enormously distraught and remorseful” about the shooting.
However, she faced scrutiny when she took the stand in her own defense at trial, as Jennifer insisted that she was not to blame and that the blame lay with her husband, son and the school. She testified: “I’ve wondered if she would have done anything differently, and she wouldn’t have done it.”
In a separate request, James Crumbley’s lawyer said the father had “expressed significant remorse” for his role in the tragedy and asked that he be sentenced to 28 months in prison with time served along with a maximum period of supervision.
Alternatively, counsel requested 43 months in prison with credit for time served.
James was cut off from communications with anyone other than his legal team during his trial after he made a series of “threatening” house calls in jail, including saying prosecutors would face “retaliation.”
His lawyer denied that his calls were threats and insisted that James “at worst engaged in frustrated name-calling.”
At James’ trial, jurors heard that he bought his son the 9mm Sig Sauer firearm used in the shooting at a Black Friday sale four days before the school shooting, and Jennifer took it to the shooting range the day after purchase.
James did not properly secure the gun and kept it alone in a safe that Ethan easily opened on the day of the shooting. At his trial it was also discovered that he kept other weapons locked only with the code ‘000’.
The morning of the school shooting, teachers became concerned after finding alarming drawings and writing in their homework, including drawings of shooting victims that said “the thoughts won’t stop…Help me.”
One of the teenage killer’s trips to the shooting range with his father was shown to the court during James’ trial, eerily matching the stance he adopted when he shot and killed his classmates.
In one of Ethan Crumbley’s diary entries shown at trial, Ethan wrote: “I have no help for my mental problems and it’s making me shoot myself up in damn school.”
A significant portion of both parents’ trials also was devoted to a crucial school meeting the morning of the shooting.
Ethan’s teachers became concerned after seeing his math homework, in which he drew disturbing drawings of gunfights and wrote, “Thoughts don’t stop, help me.”
Unbeknownst to the others in the room, Ethan had stolen the 9mm semi-automatic pistol from his house, which James had not locked up. His trial heard that the gun’s locking cable was still in its packaging inside the box.
James and Jennifer were taken to school to discuss the drawings, but both said they were “too busy” to take it home and returned to work. Less than two hours later, Ethan opened fire.