OAKLAND COUNTY (WWJ) -- The parents of self-confessed Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley will stand trial after the Michigan Supreme Court denied requests to hear their appeals.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were charged with four counts each of involuntary manslaughter, charges that carry a maximum penalty of 15 years, in connection to the Oxford High School shooting that their son pled guilty to carrying out on Nov. 30, 2021.
Four students, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Justin Shilling, 17, Tate Myre, 16 and Hana St. Juliana, 14, were killed in the tragedy while six other students and a teacher were wounded.
The Crumbleys are the first parents in America charged in a mass school shooting
In May of 2023, both had asked Michigan's highest court to hear their cases after the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that there was sufficient evidence for them to stand trail.
The parents have tried to have the charges against them dismissed, arguing they aren’t at fault for the shooting and their son should be solely blamed.
"We're talking about a 16-year-old who wrote elaborate and deliberate plans in a journal that that he only knew about," Shannon Smith, who represents Jennifer Crumbley, said during an Appeals court hearing earlier in the year. "And until the prosecution can show that the parents were more a part of knowing that was the plan and that it was foreseeable he would actually take a gun and shoot other people."
The couples' attorneys argued that the prosecution "failed to point to a single case where a person can be held responsible for the planned and deliberate acts of another person."
Prosecutors maintained that James and Jennifer both knew their son was troubled and failed to intervene even after their son showed numerous warning signs that he was in mental distress, WWJ's Jon Hewitt said.
He also armed him, allegedly having purchased him a gun just days before the shootings.
As gathered through the investigation, prosecutors relayed witness accounts that said the couple focused on their farm animals and dated outside their marriage, often leaving their son at home with instability and no supervision from the time he was a young child.
That “helped lay the foundation for his later violence,” prosecutors say.
"Put simply, they created an environment in which their son's violent tendencies flourished. They were aware their son was troubled, and then they bought him a gun," prosecutors argued in a previous court filing.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald claims the parents bought the gun used in the shooting for their teenaged son and didn't get him help when he needed it.
The latest developments come a week after an Oakland County judge has ruled that the Cumbley's son, Ethan, is eligible to receive a sentence of life in prison without parole, despite being a minor.
Crumbley, now 17, was convicted of a total 24 felonies, including four counts of first-degree murder and one count of terrorism in the deadly shooting.
n explaining his decision Friday, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwame Rowe said the murders were methodical, intentional, and thoughtfully planned out, noting that the teen had plenty of time to change his mind.
"Not only did the defendant plan every action, but he also followed through with this plan," said Rowe, then going step-by-step through each shot Crumbley took, naming each victim.
Rowe stated that while the court acknowledges that the teenager may have mental illness, that was not enough of a mitigating factor.
The case against Ethan's parents is setting legal precedents across the nation as no parents of mass murderers have ever been charged.