As they face sentencing -- and as prosecutors seek at least 10-year prison sentences for involuntary manslaughter -- for their role in an attack that killed four students in 2021, the parents of a Michigan school shooter are asking a judge to keep them out of prison. Jennifer and James Crumbley are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for the close of a pioneering case: They are the first parents convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting, the Associated Press reports.
Jennifer Crumbley's defense attorney Shannon Smith said her client is “not a threat to the community.” Smith said she is even willing to put Jennifer Crumbley up in a guest house at her property, outfitted with an electronic monitor. Smith said “any gross negligence” were mistakes “that any parent could make.” James Crumbley's lawyer, Mariell Lehman, said that the more than two years spent in jail since the couple’s arrest is enough time in custody. Ethan Crumbley, now 17, pleaded guilty and is serving a life prison sentence for the shooting at Oxford High School. Prosecutors say “tragically simple actions” by both parents could have stopped the catastrophe, including safe gun storage and removal of the 15-year-old from school when confronted with his dark drawing that day.
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