By Ed White -
The Associated Press
A prosecutor urged jurors Wednesday to convict the father of a Michigan school shooter, arguing that the man ignored the “simplest and most obvious opportunities” to prevent the deaths of four students, especially after seeing the violent drawings of his son in class.
Instead of taking Ethan Crumbley home, James Crumbley left Oxford High School with his wife and made deliveries for DoorDash, passing near their home, prosecutor Karen McDonald said.
James Crumbley did not check the house for a gun similar to the one in his son's drawing until news of the shooting began to spread through the small community where they lived.
That's when
he frantically called 911 and claimed that the gun was missing
, and that his 15-year-old son could be the killer.
James Crumbley, during his trial in Pontiac, Michigan, on March 13, 2024. Associated Press
“There were 1,800 students at Oxford High School,” McDonald stated.
“There was a father who suspected his son was the attacker at school: James Crumbley.
Do you know what that is called?
It's called predictability."
Parents are not responsible for everything their children do, he added, but “this is a very shocking and strange set of events.”
A jury of six men and six women left the courtroom to deliberate
around 3:15 p.m.
Crumbley, 47, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, failing to safely store the gun used by Ethan and failing to seek help for his son's mental problems.
Parents in Michigan have a “legal duty” to exercise reasonable care to prevent their children from harming others, the prosecutor explained.
“James Crumbley was presented with the easiest and clearest opportunities to prevent the deaths of four students and he did nothing,” McDonald said.
“He did nothing, over and over and over again.”
The boy took the gun to school, killing four students and injuring seven other people on Nov. 30, 2021. Investigators indicated that a wire that could have blocked the gun from functioning was still sealed in its original packaging.
McDonald demonstrated for the jury how to use it: He grabbed the murder weapon, closed a padlock and removed the keys.
“Ten seconds,” he stressed
, “is the easiest and simplest.”
Ethan's mental state was worsening: the young man drew a macabre drawing of a gun and a wounded man in a math assignment and added disconcerting phrases: “The thoughts don't stop.
Help me.
Blood everywhere.
The world is dead.”
But the parents refused to take Ethan home after a brief meeting at school, accepting only a list of mental health providers.
They also did not tell school staff that James Crumbley had purchased a 9mm Sig Sauer pistol just four days earlier.
Ethan Crumbley is escorted from court on July 27, 2023, in Pontiac, Michigan. Associated Press
Ethan referred to his gun as “my beauty” on social media.
He pulled it out of his backpack and started shooting.
No one had searched his backpack.
Previously, in November 2021, she wrote in her diary that she needed help for her mental health “but my parents don't listen to me, so I can't get it.”
Defense attorney Mariell Lehman ended her argument after calling only one witness, Ethan's aunt, to the stand.
James Crumbley declined to testify, telling the judge that he understood the risks and benefits of speaking before the jury.
“He didn't know that his son knew where those firearms were
,” Lehman told the jury.
“The absence of evidence [...] may be your reasonable doubt.”
Those killed in the attack were Justin Shilling, 17, Madisyn Baldwin (17), Hana St. Juliana (14) and Tate Myre (16).
The Crumbleys are the first American parents charged with criminal responsibility in a mass school shooting committed by a child.
Jennifer Crumbley, 45, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last month.
During his trial, he told the jury that
he would not have done anything differently
.
Ethan Crumbley, now 17, is serving a life sentence for murder and terrorism.