Michigan school shooter’s parents file appeal on judge’s order to make them stand trial

The parents of the shooter who killed four students at a Michigan high school in November 2021 are appealing a judge’s order that they stand trial for manslaughter, according to new filings.

Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of Ethan Crumbley, were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors argued they provided their son with a gun and ignored warning signs about his behavior before the killings.

The Michigan Appeals Court ruled earlier this year the Crumbley parents could stand trial because their “actions and inactions were inexorably intertwined” with the actions of their son.

The parents are now appealing to the Michigan Supreme Court, according to two filings shared by local outlet WXYZ-TV Detroit. Their attorneys argue in the documents that “to hold parents to such a standard runs afoul of principled outcomes” and that “the mass shooting perpetrated by [Ethan Crumbley] was not foreseeable.”

Ethan was a 15-year-old sophomore when he attacked his high school in Oxford, Mich., in 2021, killing four and injuring seven others. He pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder charges last year.

The Michigan Appeals Court opinion in March argued the shooting was reasonably foreseeable.

“This connection exists not simply because of the parent-child relationship but also because of the facts showing that defendants were actively involved in EC’s mental state remaining untreated, that they provided him with the weapon used to kill the victims, and that they refused to remove him from the situation that led directly to the shootings,” a three-judge panel wrote.