A jury found James Crumbley guilty of involuntary manslaughter (Picture: Reuters)
A father who purchased a gun his teenage son used to kill four students at a Michigan high school has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
James Crumbley on Thursday joined his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, in facing identical convictions around the November 2021 Oxford High School shooting committed by their son, Ethan Crumbley.
A jury after 11 hours of deliberating found James partially responsible for not stopping Ethan in the state’s deadliest school shooting.
The couple are the first American parents to be charged in a mass shooting carried out by their child. James and Jennifer were tried separately.
During James’ trial, prosecutors zeroed in on the Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun he bought four days before the massacre. Prosecutors also zeroed in on the couple’s response to a drawing Ethan made on his math assignments hours before opening fire.
‘James Crumbley was presented with the easiest, most glaring opportunities to prevent the deaths of these four students,’ Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said during closing arguments on Wednesday.
‘And he did nothing.’
Jennifer was convicted in February. Her conviction was viewed by some as possibly opening the door for more parents of young shooters to be charged in the future.
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