James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, are set to be sentenced on Tuesday morning.
The pair will appear together in court for the first time since before their cases began together and were eventually separated. Prosecutors are asking for 10 to 15 years in prison for both parents, who asked for time served.
Two separate juries found both James and Jennifer guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting on Nov. 30, 2021, when their then-15-year-old son killed students Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and left seven other victims injured.
The parents’ trials have been described as historic, as they are the first parents of a school shooter in U.S. history to be tried for their child’s crimes. Ethan Crumbley’s case was also considered historic because he pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge on top of murder charges. The now-18-year-old will spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.
James Crumbley declined to testify during his own trial after his wife took the stand about a month before his trial began.
At one point during her trial, Jennifer said she “wouldn’t have” done anything differently if given the chance.
WATCH JENNIFER CRUMBLEY’S TESTIMONY:
“Of course, I look back after all this happened, and I have asked myself if I would have done anything differently. I wouldn’t have,” Jennifer testified, adding that she wishes her son would have killed her and her husband, James Crumbley, “instead.”
In a pre-sentencing statement, Jennifer Crumbley backtracked on her own testimony.
“At trial, when I was on the stand I was asked if I would have done anything differently, I testified that I would not have — and that is true without the benefit of of (sic) hindsight that I have now,” Crumbley wrote, according to the Detroit News. “With the information I have now, of course my answer would be hugely different. There are so many things that I would change if I could go back in time. I knew my son to be a quiet, good kid, who loved his pets. I never imagined he would hurt other people in the way that he did.”
Ethan used a 9 mm SIG Sauer, which his father purchased for him, to shoot up Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021. The firearm contained several rounds of ammunition when authorities recovered it. Jennifer posted about the purchase on social media, calling it a Christmas gift for her teenage son, just days before the massacre.
Prosecutors have suggested the Crumbleys could have stopped the shooting before it happened when they arrived at Oxford High on the morning of Nov. 30 to meet with school counselors after Ethan was caught scrawling disturbing notes in class.
His notes included an image of a gun and the phrases “Help me,” “Blood everywhere” and “My life is useless,” along with a drawing of a gun.
WATCH THE CRUMBLEYS’ INTERVIEW AFTER SHOOTING:
But the parents turned away after the meeting, leaving their son at school while they went back to work. Ethan later pulled a firearm out of his backpack, fatally shooting four students and injuring seven others. The shooting has resulted in several civil lawsuits against the Crumbley parents and school administrators, alleging that they failed to prevent the shooting.
Prosecutors have pointed to Ethan’s journal entries, text messages and videos saying he wanted help and his parents were ignoring him. The day before the school massacre, Ethan made a 19-minute video describing what he was going to do the next day, prosecutors said during Jennifer’s trial.
After the shooting, the Crumbleys allegedly fled Oxford and went to Detroit with $6,000 in cash following some initial questioning from police. U.S. Marshals eventually apprehended them days later, on Dec. 4, 2021.
