Locked and Loaded? > Now this changes everything - School shooter's parents go to prison

 

Ethan Crumbley’s parents sentenced to up

to 15 years for son’s fatal school shooting

By 

Social Links forPriscilla DeGregory

Published April 9, 2024

 Updated April 9, 2024, 1:44 p.m. ET

Ethan Crumbley’s parents were sentenced to between 10 and 15 years behind bars Tuesday for their son’s 2021 massacre that left four students dead — the first time parents have been sentenced in a US mass school shooting.

James and Jennifer Crumbley were handed down the prison time by Judge Cheryl Matthews in a Pontiac, Michigan courtroom after they were found guilty on involuntary manslaughter charges at separate trials in March and February, respectively.

“These convictions are not about poor parenting, these convictions confirm repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train, about repeatedly ignoring things that would make a reasonable person feel the hair on the back of their neck stand up,” Matthews said before announcing the sentences.

The convictions are the first time in US history parents have been held accountable for a school shooting carried out by their child.

If you have a gift of discernment
you may see more than just
Ethan Crumbley

They were convicted for failing to intervene despite obvious warning signs their son was troubled and for failing to keep a gun locked away in their home.

The judge blamed Jennifer for glorifying owning guns and for her “dispassionate and apathetic” attitude toward Ethan.

“Each of the defendants’ gross negligence has caused unimaginable suffering to hundreds of others,” the judge said.

Prosecutors had asked Judge Matthews to put James, 47, and Jennifer, 46, away for at least 10 years for the rampage that killed four students, injured six more and also injured a teacher at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021.

Both parents, who’ve been locked up for the two-and-a-half-years since their arrests, asked for no additional prison time. Jennifer requested she be released with GPS tracking to live with her lawyer.

Speaking before the sentencing, Jennifer — wearing black and white jail clothes — was allowed to address the court, where she said she had found god and claimed she had no idea what her son was capable of.

But, don't you think you should have?

She said: “The gravity and weight this has taken on my heart and soul cannot be expressed in words, just as I know there is nothing I can say to ease the pain and suffering of the victims and their families.

“If I even thought my son would be capable of crimes like these, my actions would have absolutely been different …He was not the son I knew when I woke up on Nov. 30. The Ethan I knew was a good quiet kid.”

James — wearing orange jail scrubs — was also given an opportunity to speak from the defense table where he emotionally apologized for the “pain and agony” his son had caused.

“Part of you will be missing forever but please know I am truly very sorry. I am sorry for your loss as a result of what my son did. I cannot express how much I wish that I had known what was going on with him or what was going to happen.

The case against Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley's parents

• Ethan Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer, have each been sentenced to between 10 and 15 years behind bars in a Michigan court in their son’s 2021 school shooting, which left four dead and six injured.
• They are now the first parents in the nation’s history to be convicted of manslaughter in a school shooting carried out by their child. Both were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter charges at separate trials in March and February.
• The couple faced prison for failing to intervene despite obvious warning signs their son was troubled.
• Prosecutors told jurors James failed to intervene despite his teen son’s unstable mental state, even neglecting to lock up the semi-automatic handgun the dad bought for Ethan as a Christmas presen before the shooting.
• James was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March and Jennifer was found guilty in February after jurors found her to be an unreliable witness.
• In September 2023, Ethan Crumbley was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the deaths of Justin Shilling, 17; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Tate Myre, 16.

“You know that what my son did. I was not aware of that or that he was planning it or that he obtained access to the firearms in my house, there is no evidence that suggested that,” he said.

Addressing Judge Matthews, he added: “I’m simply going to ask that you sentence me in a fair and just way.”

Before the Crumbley parents spoke, family members of the slain students — Justin Shilling, 17; Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Tate Myre, 16 — told the judge about the devastating toll the shooting has had on their lives. 

Baldwin’s mom, Nicole Beausoleil, through tears said she wishes she could have taken “the bullet that day so [Madisyn] can continue living the life she deserves.”

“You failed as parents,” Beausoleil said to the Crumbleys. “The punishment that you face will never be enough, it will never bring her back.”

Shilling’s parents, Jill Soave and Hank Shilling, both asked Matthews to impose the maximum sentence possible for the agony the Crumbleys caused them.

“The blood of our children is on your hands too,” Hank Shilling said to the two Crumbleys.

And St. Juliani’s older sister, Reina blasted the Crumbleys for failing as parents and for causing the victims’ “everlasting nightmare.”

“Instead of giving quality time and compassion, you gift your son a gun,” Reina said.

Reina and Hana’s dad, Steve St. Juliania said his daughter’s murder “has destroyed a large portion of my very soul.”

At their trials, jurors heard testimony about how the parents went to the school the day of the shooting to discuss a violent drawing found on Ethan’s math assignment with officials. The pictures showed a gun, a bullet and a person bleeding with the words, “Blood everywhere,” and “The thoughts won’t stop — help me.”

But James and Jennifer didn’t take Ethan, then 15, out of school that day, instead returning to work after the school gave them list of mental health services, according to trial testimony.

Staffers didn’t insist Ethan be removed from school grounds but they also weren’t aware that the parents had bought their son a Sig Sauer 9mm handgun only four days earlier, which looked like the gun in Ethan’s drawing, jurors learned at trial.

Ethan, now 17, copped to murder and terrorism charges and is serving a term of life imprisonment without parole.

Terror on Repeat > A rare look at the destructive power of the AR15 in America

Truth is a curious thing. It can't be found by looking at only one side of an argument, both sides must be considered and both parties must be willing to consider that their view might not be 100% correct. Without the willingness to be wrong on an issue, you can never be totally right.

What did the forefathers have in mind when they wrote the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution? In today's volatile environment, the 2nd Amendment is more important today than ever before. But did the forefathers have AR15s in mind? Of course not! They had single-shot weapons and probably could have never imagined the destructive firepower of today's popular weapons. Nevertheless, if the government turns against its own people, they will have superior firepower regardless. 

This is the quandary? How do we protect our children from massacres by mad gun owners and, at the same time, protect them from the possibility of a mad government? First, let's look at some of the facts in the in-depth article in the Washington Post, bearing in mind that WaPo is hopelessly far-left liberal, like most other American media:

TERROR ON REPEAT

A rare look at the devastation caused by AR-15 shootings

By Silvia Foster-Frau, N. Kirkpatrick and Arelis R. Hernández;  Nov. 16 at 6:00 a.m.

Mass shootings involving AR-15s have become a recurring American nightmare.

The weapon, easy to operate and widely available, is now used more than any other in the country’s deadliest mass killings.

Fired by the dozens or hundreds in rapid succession, bullets from AR-15s have blasted through classroom doors and walls. They have shredded theater seats and splintered wooden church pews. They have mangled human bodies and, in a matter of seconds, shattered the lives of people attending a concert, shopping on a Saturday afternoon, going out with friends and family, working in their offices and worshiping at church and synagogue. They have killed first-graders, teenagers, mothers, fathers and grandparents.

But the full effects of the AR-15’s destructive force are rarely seen in public.

AMERICAN ICON

A series examining the AR-15, a weapon with a singular hold on a divided nation

More stories

Press Enter to skip to end of carousel

What does an AR-15 do to a human body? A visual examination of the deadly damage.

A letter from Executive Editor Sally Buzbee on the AR-15 series

Decades of marketing reinvented the AR-15 into a top-selling firearm

Sutherland Springs survivors haunted by an AR-15's carnage, trauma

Magazine restrictions could reduce mass killings by AR-15s, but courts must decide

The AR-15's impact in America: Here's what The Post's examination found

Why do people own AR-15s? 33% of owners cited self-defense, poll finds

Gunmakers' growth in red states marks a divide on weapons like the AR-15

Armed with AR-15s, extremist and militia groups anticipate civil unrest

As guns saturate the United States, police turn to the AR-15

How the AR-15 became a powerful political, cultural symbol in America

Why are we showing graphic AR-15 content? A letter from the executive editor.

The Louisville bank shooter bought a gun despite struggles with mental health

End of carousel

About the terminology  

The impact is often shielded by laws and court rulings that keep crime scene photos and records secret. Journalists do not typically have access to the sites of shootings to document them. Even when photographs are available, news organizations generally do not publish them, out of concern about potentially dehumanizing victims or retraumatizing their families.

Now, drawing on an extensive review of photographs, videos and police investigative files from 11 mass killings between 2012 and 2023, The Washington Post is publishing the most comprehensive account to date of the repeating pattern of destruction wrought by the AR-15 — a weapon that was originally designed for military combat but has in recent years become one of the best-selling firearms on the U.S. market.

This piece includes never-before-released pictures taken by law enforcement officials after shootings inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex., in 2022, and the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., in 2017, that were obtained by The Post. It is also based on Post interviews with survivors and first responders from multiple shootings as well as transcripts of official testimony provided by law enforcement officials who were among the first to witness the carnage. Read a note here from the executive editor about how The Post decided what to publish and why.

The review lays bare how the AR-15, a weapon that has soared in popularity over the past two decades as a beloved tool for hunting, target practice and self-defense, has also given assailants the power to instantly turn everyday American gathering places into zones of gruesome violence.

This is an oral history told in three parts that follows the chronological order of a typical AR-15 mass shooting. It weaves together pictures, videos and the recollections of people who endured different tragedies but have similar stories to tell.

Now, Go to WaPo for the article:

============================================================================================

New Zealand Lawmakers Pass Tough Gun Laws Over Mosque Attacks

By Clyde Hughes

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, shown here in a ceremony last week, helped usher in new gun laws in Parliament Wednesday.

UPI -- The New Zealand Parliament passed stricter gun reform legislation Wednesday, less than a month after shooting attacks at two mosques in Christchurch killed 50 people.

The third reading of the Arms Amendment Act passed 119-1, which includes a ban on semi-automatic weapons and military-style semi-automatics, a ban on parts, magazines and ammunition that could be used for modification into a semi-automatic.

A ban on pump-action shotguns with more than a five-shot capacity was also included. The law set an amnesty period until Sept. 30 during which such weapons can be turned in.

The bill now needs the signature of New Zealand Governor-General Patsy Reddy for it to become law.

"We are ultimately here because 50 people died and they do not have a voice," New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. "We in this House are their voice and today we have used that voice wisely."

David Seymour, the lone member of Parliament voting against the measure, warned the legislation will create an underground market that will only grow in the future.

"If a significant number of weapons aren't handed in, we risk creating a large black market of dangerous weapons without any regulatory oversight," he said. "That may be more dangerous world than we had prior to March 15."

Advisers will now create a price list of the nation's buyback program.

Last week, a New Zealand judge ordered that accused shooter Brenton Tarrant undergo two mental health examinations to see if he is mentally fit to enter a plea in the case.

Lunatics Once Again Have the Right to Buy Guns in America

America - Did we just change oligarchs or are the same people telling the government what to do?

House votes to end Obama rule banning gun buys for Social Security recipients presumed mentally ill

© Carlo Allegri / Reuters

The Republican-controlled Congress has voted to roll back an administrative rule blocking Americans deemed mentally impaired from buying guns, an early target of a lengthy list of Obama era rules lawmakers plan to overturn.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted 235-180 to scrap rules that would require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to provide information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) on mentally impaired persons.

The Obama administration initiated the regulation to keep guns out of the hands of people with mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Opponents argued there was no vote on the rule from elected legislators, and that it violates due process.

And, of course, Republicans are all about due process. This has nothing to do with the NRA lobby and the 4 million people who became ineligible to buy guns. That's a serious hit the number of potential customers for gun makers. But then, there are no rules preventing the sale of guns to drug addicts all of whom can be classified as lunatics when high.

The regulations states that only beneficiaries who met five criteria would be reported to the NICS: individuals who have filed a claim based on disability, are considered disabled, have a mental impairment, are between 18 years of age, and retirement age, and those considered incapable of managing their own benefit payments.

“The beneficiaries whose names we would submit to the NICS must meet all five well-defined criteria. We will not report any beneficiary who does not satisfy all five criteria to the NICS,” the regulation reads.

Brian Malte, Senior National Policy Director of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, applauded the regulation in July, saying, “we appreciate the SSA's efforts to submit pertinent information about dangerously mentally ill individuals to NICS so as to keep guns out of the hands of those that we all agree should not have access to them.”

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has opposed the rule since it was proposed, arguing that the courts should determine who is mentally ill, not the SSA.

“The Obama administration’s last minute, back-door gun grab would have stripped law-abiding Americans of their Second Amendment rights without due process,” Chris Cox, the NRA’s top lobbyist says on an NRA legislative site. “Today’s vote was the first step in revoking this unconstitutional action.”

Republicans pointed to the fact that, under the rule’s language, individuals could be added to the NICS database, solely based on the fact that they are considered incapable of managing their own benefit payments and require a “representative payee.”

The Los Angeles Times estimated that the monthly benefits of 4.2 million adults are managed by representative payees.

Republicans contend that individuals who use a representative payee could simply need help managing the benefits they receive from SSA. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that the regulations were “a violation of the Constitution,” and stated that individuals reported to the NICS database would be “guilty until proven innocent.”

With a Republican majority, the House was able to use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal the regulation without Democratic support.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Clyde E. Terry, chairperson of the National Council on Disability, said that using the CRA to overturn regulation was “not only warranted, but necessary.”

The Trump administration could potentially use the CRA to repeal hundreds of rules published under the Obama administration since May 31, 2016.