The father of an American high school student sentenced to life in prison for killing four students in his school in 2021 with a weapon offered by his parents was found guilty Thursday of involuntary manslaughter, a few weeks after a similar verdict for the mother of the teenager.
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After a little more than a day of deliberations, the 12 jurors delivered their verdict, according to American media. James Crumbley, 47, was on trial for his role in the killing committed by his son Ethan Crumbley, at his high school in Michigan (northern United States).
Found guilty at the beginning of February also of manslaughter, the sentencing of Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of Ethan Crumbley, was set for April 9.
The parents were prosecuted for manslaughter resulting from a failure in their legal duty to control the actions of their child, aged 15 at the time of the facts.
They face up to 15 years in prison.
At her trial, Jennifer Crumbley testified that her husband had brought back a Sig Sauer 9mm caliber pistol as an early Christmas present a few days before the killings. She said she took her son to a shooting range the next day.
Despite a summons from parents at the school on the day of the tragedy – the teachers having discovered an “alarming” drawing on Ethan Crumbley’s table and advising them to have him psychologically monitored – they left without bringing him home.
A minor at the time of the facts, Ethan Crumbley was tried as an adult and sentenced in December to life in prison without the possibility of early release.
The teenager pleaded guilty in October 2022 to bringing the gun with 50 bullets in his backpack to his high school and shooting the high school students.
He killed two girls and two boys aged 14 to 17 and injured six other students and a teacher.
Faced with the number of firearm deaths involving minors, pressure is mounting in the United States to punish parents who allow, often through negligence, access to these weapons.
