James Crumbley enters the courtroom during his motion hearing at Oakland County Courthouse, in Pontiac, Mich., on Feb. 21.Clarence Tabb Jr./The Associated Press
A month after a Michigan woman was convicted of manslaughter in a school shooting carried out by her son, the boy’s father faced trial for the same unusual charge.
The shooting was “a nightmare that was preventable and it was foreseeable,” prosecutor Marc Keast told jurors in his opening statement on Thursday in the trial of James Crumbley, 47.
Crumbley faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter for allegedly ignoring warning signs about his son’s mental state and not securing the 9mm pistol that prosecutors say he bought as a Christmas present for his son, Ethan.
That was just four days before Ethan Crumbley, then 15, used the gun in the 2021 shooting, killing four fellow students at Oxford High School near Detroit.
“James Crumbley failed to secure that gun in a way to prevent his son from accessing it,” Keast told jurors.
James Crumbley’s defense attorney, Mariell Lehman, told jurors during her opening that her client could not possibly have foreseen that his son was going to carry out a mass murder.
“He did not know what his son was planning,” Lehman said. “He did not purchase that gun with the knowledge that his son may use it against other people.”
Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty in 2022 to four counts of first-degree murder and other charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December.
Jennifer Crumbley’s trial, which ended with her conviction on Feb. 6, was the first time a parent faced such a charge stemming from a U.S. school shooting by a child. The U.S., a country with persistent gun violence, has experienced a series of school shootings over the years, often carried out by current or former students.
Lawyers for James Crumbley maintain that he had no way of knowing that his son would carry out the shooting, and that he had securely stored the firearm in the family’s home. Jennifer Crumbley made similar arguments during her trial.
James Crumbley’s lawyers argued before Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews in February that he would not be able to get a fair trial following his wife’s conviction. They asked that the trial be moved but Matthews denied that request.
According to prosecutors, on the morning of the shootings, a teacher discovered drawings by Ethan Crumbley depicting a handgun, a bullet and a bleeding figure next to the words “Blood everywhere,” “My life is useless,” and “The thoughts won’t stop - help me.”
The Crumbleys were summoned to the school that morning and told that Ethan needed counseling and they needed to take him home, according to prosecutors. The couple resisted taking their son home and did not search his backpack or ask him about the gun, prosecutors said.
Ethan Crumbley was returned to class and later walked out of a bathroom with the gun and began firing, according to prosecutors.