The parents of the Oxford High School shooter will stand trial on charges connected to the murders. That’s after the Michigan Supreme Court let stand lower court rulings that denied the requests from James and Jennifer Crumbley to have involuntarily manslaughter charges against them dismissed.
Both appeals were denied Tuesday with orders written with the court’s standard, terse language: ”On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the March 23, 2023 judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED, because we are not persuaded that the question presented should be reviewed by this Court.”
This was the Crumbleys’ last hope of having the charges dismissed and means they are headed to court in an exceedingly rare instance of the parents of a killer facing possible criminally responsibility for negligently providing the murder weapon.
There is no word on when a trial might begin. The Crumbleys could also seek a plea deal.
The Crumbleys purchased the gun used in the Oxford school shooting but argue they could not have anticipated the gun would have been used for such a horrific purpose and deny the gun was not locked up. They are also charged with ignoring obvious warning signs, including Ethan Crumbley’s pleas for help and signs of violent ideation as well as failing to warn the school.
Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to 24 counts including murder and terrorism and faces the possibility of life in prison with no chance for parole. The November 2021 mass murder left four students dead and several people injured.
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