Crumbley parents to face school shooting victims' families at sentencing
The first parents to ever be charged, then convicted, in their child's mass shooting at a U.S. school are expected to face the victims during a sentencing hearing in a Michigan courtroom.
PONTIAC, Mich. — The first parents to ever be charged, then convicted, in their child's mass shooting at a U.S. school are expected to face the victims Tuesday morning during a sentencing hearing in a Michigan courtroom.
James and Jennifer Crumbley are set to appear together, according to two sources close to the case — the first time they would have seen each other since they attended joint hearings before their trials were separated last fall. Their teenage son, Ethan, pleaded guilty as an adult to the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit and was sentenced to life in prison.
Now, his parents — found guilty on four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each of the students their son killed — could face significant prison time.
In a sentencing memo filed last week, Oakland County prosecutors said they will ask Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews to sentence the Crumbleys to 10 to 15 years in prison each.
In Michigan, prosecutors said, felonies that rise out of the same event must run concurrently, so the most Matthews can impose is 15 years in total. And while prosecutors want the parents to receive sentences that exceed the advisory guideline range, Matthews has the ultimate discretion, weighing factors such as past criminal behavior and the circumstances of their crimes.
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