In 2021, a teenager shot and killed four classmates at his high school in the US state of Michigan. For the first time in the USA, the parents have been sentenced to prison for negligent homicide.
Before the sentence was announced against Ethan Crumbley’s parents, the courtroom belonged to the victims, as is usual in US criminal proceedings: Jill Soave’s son Justin was one of the four classmates that the then 15-year-old Ethan met in his high school in November 2021 shot in Oxford near Detroit.
“This tragedy was completely avoidable if only they had done something,” Soave said. “Then our four angels would still be here. And Justin could celebrate his 20th birthday on the 18th of this month.”
The murder weapon was a gift from his parents
Then, struggling for composure, the mother listed Ethan Crumbley’s parents’ list of failures: If only they had sent him to a psychologist instead of buying him a gun – the SIG Sauer was a Christmas present. If only they had kept that weapon safe. If only they had said something to the school psychologist that day, if only they had checked his backpack.
If only they had taken him home instead of leaving him at school and abandoning him. Then I wouldn’t have to stand here today.
Immediately after their son’s crime, the Crumbleys fled. They hid from the police – while the mother of Ethan’s victim Madisyn had to plan her daughter’s funeral, Nicole Beausoleil says in tears: “While you ran away from your son and your responsibilities, I had to do the worst thing you can do – Saying goodbye to my Madisyn.”
And Hana’s father, Steve St. Juliana, accused the Crumbleys of blaming everyone else for their son’s actions to this day.
Parents reject allegations
The shooter’s parents expressed their great regret to the victims’ families. But show remorse or take responsibility? None. He didn’t know what his son would do, says father James. Mother Jennifer explains that the prosecutor’s office, the media and the public have unfairly vilified her as a monster and a bad parent.
They are a completely normal family. It’s not the case that bad children only come from bad parents, says the 46-year-old. “If the public can learn anything, it’s that this could happen to you too!”
Warning signs were repeatedly ignored
Ethan Crumbley was sentenced to life in prison for the murders. It was already clear during the trial against the then 15-year-old that he suffered from depression and harbored violent fantasies.
Judge Cheryl Matthews therefore felt it was important to clarify: “These guilty verdicts are not about bad parenting.” It’s about repeatedly ignoring warning signs that make a normal person’s hair stand on end, says Matthews.
Then she read out the sentence: Jennifer and James Crumbley must go to prison for ten and 15 years. However, like their son, they can still appeal the verdict.
Judgment with a “signal effect”
The first conviction of parents for a deadly rampage committed by their child is definitely a signal, said legal expert Renato Mariotti to the news channel CNN. After all, this is about significant prison sentences.
Also because US policymakers are still having a hard time curbing the spread of weapons, Mariotti expects prosecutors to try more often to hold parents accountable in the future: “If there are more guns, then it’s in now the parents’ responsibility to keep them safe.”
And, unlike the Crumbleys, they also have to take their children’s warning signs seriously.
Julia Kastein, ARD Washington, tagesschau, April 10, 2024 2:46 a.m