The parents of Ethan Crumbley, who killed four schoolchildren, were sentenced to 15 years in prison in a historic trial.
In the United States, historic sentences have been read for the parents of the school shooter.
15-year-old Ethan Crumbley killed four students at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021. In addition, seven people were wounded in the shooting.
Now the state court read to his parents James and To Jennifer Crumbley Sentences of 15 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 10 years.
The court heard that they had ignored clear signs that their son’s mental health was deteriorating.
In addition, the parents had bought the boy the gun he used in the school shooting.
– When you bought a gun for your son, I drove my daughter with an essay, who died in a shooting at the age of 17 by Madisyn Baldwin Mum Nicole Beausoleil said in a speech to the parents of the school shooter.
The currently 17-year-old shooter has already been sentenced to life imprisonment for, among other things, four murders.
The purpose of the sentence is to act as a deterrent
Parents of school shooters have not been sentenced before in the United States.
While reading the verdict, the judge Cheryl Matthews said it is meant to act as a deterrent in the future.
– I have thought about the possibility of rehabilitation, but on the other hand, also the need to protect our society. I have also taken into account what is an appropriate sentence to prevent others from doing the same, he said.
Matthews also said the verdict is not intended to accuse James and Jennifer Crumbley of being bad parents.
– This is about whether the parents could have prevented the shootings by their actions. There would have been several opportunities, but they didn’t take them, Judge Matthews said.
James and Jennifer Crumbley appeared calm in court and expressed their apologies to the victims and their parents.
– I wish I had known what was going through my son’s head or what he was planning to do, because I would have done a lot of things differently, James Crumbley said.
However, prosecutors and the judge disagreed.
School officials have told how they had called the parents to a meeting on the day of the shooting after their son had drawn “shocking drawings”.
The parents had left the meeting in the middle of everything and left the child at school. He already had a lethal weapon bought by his parents in his backpack at that time.