GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — State leaders and law experts are reacting after Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter, was found guilty on four counts of involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday.
Jennifer Crumbley and her husband James Crumbley were both charged after their son killed four students and injured seven other people during the 2021 Oxford High School Shooting on the east side of the state.
The prosecution said Jennifer had a duty to prevent her son, who was also a student at Oxford, from harming others. It was said that she failed to secure a gun and ammunition at home, as well as get him mental health support.
Attorneys from across the state praised the jury for their verdict, including Attorney General Dana Nessel.
"I think it was the right verdict," said the attorney general. "I think that the jury did the right thing. I thought the evidence was overwhelming."
With new gun laws going into effect on Feb. 13 in Michigan, including the safe storage law, Nessel hopes shootings like the one in Oxford will be prevented.
"My hope is we won't see more Ethan Crumbley situations because you won't have minors that have that kind of access to deadly weapons anymore now without parental supervision," she said.
And with Tuesday's guilty verdict, Cooley Law School Professor Lewis Langham says this may change the way prosecutors pursue cases like the Crumbleys'.
"There's not a prosecutor in the country that is not going to take a second look at cases that will end up being presented before them in the future," said Langham. "They're going to look at the totality of the circumstances and say, how many different areas did the parents neglect their child, or the situation that ultimately assisted greatly in leading to this next tragic event."
Jennifer will get credit for roughly 2 1/2 years in the county jail. She will be sentenced on April 9 and could spend up to 15 years in prison.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Watch 13 ON YOUR SIDE for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and on your phone.