OXFORD, Mich. – The parents of the Oxford High School shooter face sentencing this week after they were each found guilty of manslaughter at their respective trials.
On Tuesday, April 9, an Oakland County judge will hand down sentences for James and Jennifer Crumbley for their roles in the Nov. 30, 2021, mass school shooting. The parents stood separate trials earlier this year, after which both juries convicted them of four counts of involuntary manslaughter each.
Prosecutors were able to convince the juries that the parents could have foreseen the shooting -- which left four students dead -- and either took actions that they shouldn’t have, or didn’t act when they could’ve. Prosecutors argued the mass shooting was preventable, and that the shooter’s parents had the best opportunities to intervene, including on the day of the shooting.
The evidence varied between the parents’ trials, which were held in February and in March. Still, both juries ultimately agreed after hours of deliberations: Guilty on all counts.
James and Jennifer Crumbley each face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office is recommending a minimum 10-year sentence for both parents.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were both charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the four students murdered by their son: 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana; 16-year-old Tate Myre; 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin; and 17-year-old Justin Shilling.
Oakland County prosecutors had long accused James and Jennifer Crumbley of being grossly negligent toward their son by failing to provide proper care when he reported having hallucinations and struggling with his mental health. Instead, the parents purchased a handgun for their son and failed to address concerns presented by school staff leading up to the shooting, prosecutors argued.
Gross negligence in Michigan means that a person willfully disregarded the results to others “that might follow from an act or failure to act,” according to the state. In this case, the parents were accused of demonstrating a significant lack of concern about their son’s emotional state and actions, and what he might do to himself or others without proper intervention from them.
From the trials
What is involuntary manslaughter?
Involuntary manslaughter is one of the lowest homicide-related charges someone can receive after a person is killed. Involuntary manslaughter happens when a person’s death resulted from another person’s negligent or criminal actions.
To qualify as involuntary manslaughter, the death was not intentional or planned by the accused, but rather technically accidental. Still, the person charged with involuntary manslaughter is believed to be responsible for the death, despite their intentions.
An involuntary manslaughter charge in Michigan is a felony and carries a punishment of up to 15 years in prison, and/or a fine of up to $7,500.
Though the parents have been convicted of multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter, they both still face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years. If they receive jail time for their crimes, the prison sentences for each count will run concurrently, or at the same time as one another.
Why parents had separate trials
Attorneys for James and Jennifer Crumbley filed motions on Nov. 13, 2023, requesting they stand trial separately for the four counts of involuntary manslaughter they face in connection with the Oxford shooting. They were initially set to be tried together as co-defendants starting on Jan. 23, 2024.
The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office filed their responses with the Oakland County Circuit Court the same day, expressing support for the motions filed by the couple. But while agreeing the parents are legally entitled to separate trials, prosecutors say two trials will have a negative impact for many groups of people.
“The People admit that the defendant is entitled to a separate trial because some of the evidence introduced against the codefendant at trial would be damaging to the defendant,” the prosecutors’ filing reads. “Separate trials in this case come at significant cost to victims, witnesses, taxpayers, and the additional jurors who will serve. But the Constitution affords the defendant that right, and the People agree that the defendant is entitled to a separate trial.”
In their filings on Nov. 13, prosecutors said they agree that a conflict exists as it relates to jointly trying the shooter’s parents, but also said they raised the issue of a potential conflict on several occasions more than a year ago. Prosecutors previously sought to ensure the defendants knew of this conflict as they agreed to be represented by two separate attorneys who work under the same firm.
The judge ruled in favor of the parents, deciding that they can stand trial separately. Jennifer Crumbley stood trial first beginning at the end of January. James Crumbley stood trial second, beginning on March 7.
---> Conviction of Oxford shooter’s parents ‘just the beginning’ for parents of murdered students
Shooter sentenced to life in prison
The Oxford High School shooter was sentenced on Dec. 8, 2023, to life in prison without the chance for parole for murdering four students, injuring seven people, and launching a terrorist attack in 2021.
After hours of emotional testimony delivered at the shooter’s sentencing hearing, Oakland County Judge Kwamé Rowe handed down the harshest possible sentence to the now-17-year-old shooter. Just following the two-year anniversary of the Nov. 30, 2021 massacre, the shooter was sentenced to a life in prison for the 24 felonies he’s been convicted of.
The shooter will not ever be eligible for parole.
“The terror that he caused in the state of Michigan, and in Oxford, is a true act of terrorism. Respectfully, the defendant is the rare juvenile before this court,” Judge Rowe said, referencing the rarity of sentencing a minor to life in prison.
The judge said the court believes the sentence of life in prison is “in the best interest of justice, as well as proportionate to the needs of this case.”