A Michigan jury unanimously found Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter who killed four fellow students in 2021, guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter Tuesday. Crumbley will be sentenced at a later date but faces up to 15 years in prison under Michigan law.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald announced charges against the Crumbley parents in 2022, stating:
My only goal is to make sure that they know I am going to do everything possible to hold these three people accountable because their kids deserve that and I speak for my entire team. We never forget about the victims, never.
Prosecutors also charged James Crumbley, the shooter’s father, with involuntary manslaughter. His trial is scheduled for March 2024.
Involuntary murder is generally defined as causing the death of another human being through gross negligence. This is usually a higher standard of negligence than ordinary negligence in civil proceedings. Michigan courts define gross negligence as “more than carelessness. It means willfully disregarding the results to others that might follow from an act or failure to act.” To prove this in Michigan, according to the Michigan Model Criminal Jury Instructions, the prosecutor must demonstrate three elements beyond a reasonable doubt. First, the defendant knew of the danger to another; that is, they knew there was a situation that required them to take ordinary care to avoid injuring another. Second, the defendant could have avoided injuring another by using ordinary care. Lastly, the defendant failed to use ordinary care to prevent injuring another when, to a reasonable person, it must have been apparent that the result was likely to be a serious injury.
McDonald has been vocal about the issue of gun violence since the Oxford shooting. In March 2023, McDonald testified before the state senate, calling gun violence a “public health crisis.” Further, McDonald testified that seeing gun violence on the news has become “normalized.”
Judge Kwamé Rowe sentenced the shooter, Ethan Crumbley, in December 2023 to life without the possibility of parole. He was convicted of all 24 counts brought against him, including terrorism causing death, four counts of first-degree premeditated murder, seven counts of assault with intent to murder and 12 counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
This is not the only litigation following the Oxford shooting. In June 2022, a group of 20 students announced that they filed a federal lawsuit against Oxford High School, seeking that school policy be changed after the shooting.
School shootings continue to be a problem in the US. In January, the US Department of Justice issued a report detailing failures in law enforcement’s response to a May 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
