PONTIAC (WWJ) — An Oakland County jury on Tuesday found Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the convicted Oxford High School shooter, guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
After more than a week of testimony, the historic verdict was returned after a day and a half of deliberations in what experts say is the first parent to be put on trial for their role in connection with their child’s actions in a school shooting.
Speaking live with Tony Ortiz following Tuesday’s verdict, WWJ Legal Analyst Charlie Langton said he was “a little bit surprised, but I shouldn’t have been,” noting that shorter deliberations often favor the prosecution.
Langton noted that involuntary manslaughter is “a tricky little charge,” as it involves the concept of gross negligence, which was what the prosecutors set out to prove in the case against Crumbley.
“What does that mean? As a parent, do you have to scrutinize your kids’ emails, do you have to watch everything they’re watching on video? How far do you have to get involved with your kid’s life?” Langton said. “Now saying all that, should you then buy them a gun when you think they may have some mental issues? Of course not.”
With the guilty verdict — which is expected to be appealed — in the rearview now, Langton says the case will “test the extent of ‘what do parents have to do to prevent not only a school shooting, but any type of crime?’”
“I think that’s what we’re gonna have to analyze. Clearly this verdict shows that parents have a responsibility to their 15-year-old, and yes, you probably do have to watch what your kids are listening to and texting and shooting guns,” Langton said.
Speaking to the precedent that this landmark case could set, University of Detroit Mercy Law Professor Larry Dubin says the verdict could "awaken other prosecutors across the country" in terms of pursuing charges against parents of school shooters.
“It doesn’t set a precedent that parents will now routinely be charged with crimes if there’s a school shooting,” Dubin said live on WWJ Tuesday afternoon. “But what I think it does do is heighten the fact that the law can really get into the facts underlying the shooting to see what the parents knew about their child, their knowledge in terms of accessibility to guns, and whether something could have been done by the parents to have prevented the shooting.”
In other words, Dubin says, it comes down to “the foreseeability.”
“If the parents have an inkling that the child might be getting out of hand or using as a hobby something that could cause some danger, I think this could be a case that could awaken other prosecutors across the country to make that investigation and to possibly determine whether charges should be brought, which had not been done up to this point,” Dubin said.
Involuntary manslaughter charges carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. Crumbley is scheduled to be sentenced in April.
Crumbley's son, 15 years old at the time, shot and killed four students — Madisyn Baldwin, Justin Shilling, Tate Myre and Hana St. Juliana — at the Metro Detroit school on Nov. 30, 2021. Six other students and a teacher were also wounded in the mass shooting.
He pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges, including murder and terrorism. He was sentenced late last year to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence is set to be appealed.
Crumbley's husband, James, will go on trial for involuntary manslaughter in a separate case, beginning in early March.
Stay tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for continuing coverage of Jennifer Crumbley's guilty verdict. >>> LISTEN LIVE!