Jury reaches verdict in James Crumbley involuntary manslaughter trial: Watch live


The jury in the James Crumbley involuntary manslaughter trial has reached a verdict.

Testimony and closing arguments wrapped up Wednesday afternoon, and jurors met for a bit over an hour before going home for the night. They resumed deliberations at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Watch the decision live here.

Crumbley and his wife, Jennifer, whose teenage son murdered four students and injured seven other people at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, are the first parents in America to face criminal accountability for a child’s school shooting. Their son carried out his rampage using a gun his father had bought him as an early Christmas present four days earlier, though the defense maintains the gun was not really a gift, and was meant only to be used at the shooting range with his father.

Prosecutors argued that the father was grossly negligent in ignoring his son’s mental health struggles, buying him a gun instead of getting him therapy, failing to safely secure the weapon, and failing to tell school officials about the gun when he and his wife were summoned over a violent drawing their son had made on the morning before the shooting. It included a gun, and the words: ‘The thoughts won’t stop, help me.’

The defense argued the case was won of “hindsight” and second-guessing, maintaining the father never saw any signs that his son was mentally ill or would ever harm anyone, nor did he know of the teen’s plans to shoot up the school, or have any reasons to suspect he would commit such an act. It also maintains the gun at issue was secured: it was hidden in a gun case in a bedroom armoire, unloaded, and the bullets were in a separate drawer, according to the father.

Jennifer Crumbley, was convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter last month and faces up to 15 years in prison when she’s sentenced April 9. Ethan Crumbley, their son, pleaded guilty to all his crimes and is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jury reaches verdict in James Crumbley involuntary manslaughter trial: Watch live

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