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Has American justice just opened a new chapter in the long history of mass killings in the United States? On February 6, a popular jury found Jennifer Crumbley guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the crimes her son, Ethan, committed at his high school in Oxford, Michigan, on November 30, 2021.
That day, the 15-year-old took a gun from his backpack and opened fire in the hallways, killing four high school students and injuring seven others, before surrendering. Until then, American litany. But, three days later, the Oakland County prosecutor, Karen McDonald, announced by press conference a very unusual decision, still unique in the United States: the indictment of the parents for involuntary manslaughter.
The pages of their son’s diary, the macabre relics in his bedroom, like the text messages sent to his father and mother exhumed from his phone are all traces of murderous obsessions, psychological suffering and calls for help. help that they ignored. Runaways, James and Jennifer Crumbley are picked up by the police, on makeshift mattresses in a former warehouse turned artists’ studio, in Detroit. They took with them, like evidence, the invoice for the weapon given to their son four days before the killing.
They have been in prison for two years. In December 2023, Ethan Crumbley was sentenced to life in prison, without any possibility of parole. He said his parents could not be held responsible for his actions. But, already, their trial was more intriguing than his own.
“This case is dangerous for all parents »
There was a certain risk in bringing this case before a popular jury, that is to say ordinary citizens probably dealing with difficult teenagers, and sometimes owners of a weapon at home. Shannon Smith, the mother’s lawyer, tried to play that card in her closing argument. “This case is dangerous for all parents. Are they responsible for everything their children do, especially the unthinkable? » It took the jurors a day and a half to answer in the affirmative. There were twelve of them, six men, six women. Not unanimous when they began their deliberations.
“This is probably the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do.” the president of the Pontiac court told them after their verdict was announced. Jennifer Crumbley kept her eyes downcast, almost closed, and her hands clenched. She had testified a few days earlier. “Did you think your son could be dangerous? his lawyer asked him.
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