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The father of a Michigan school shooter who killed four students has been convicted of manslaughter.
The trial heard that James Crumbley, 47, had ignored his 15-year-old son’s mental health needs and bought him the handgun he used in the November 2021 attack.
The jury deliberated for just over a day before coming to the verdict.
Jennifer Crumbley, his wife, is due to be sentenced next month after being convicted on the same charges.
Crumbley was in court for the verdict and appeared to show little reaction as it was read out.
The case against the Crumbleys marks the first time parents have been charged with manslaughter over their child’s role in a shooting in the US.
Their son, Ethan, killed fellow students Tate Myre, 16; Hana St Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17. He is serving a sentence of life in prison without parole.
Seven people were also injured in the shooting.
Ven Johnson, an attorney representing the victims’ families, said in a statement that the verdicts against James and Jennifer Crumbley “won’t bring back the lives of these four students, but it represents one more step towards holding everyone responsible accountable under the law”.
In her closing arguments to the jury of six men and six women earlier this week, prosecutor Karen McDonald called the attack at the Oxford High School “preventable and foreseeable”.
She added that Crumbley’s alleged actions were “rare and egregious”.
Watch: Jennifer Crumbley’s landmark trial… in 96 seconds
He did not take even the slightest measures to ensure his son was not a threat after giving him a semi-automatic pistol as a gift, said the prosecutor.
When Crumbley heard about the shooting, he rushed home from his job as a DoorDash delivery driver, looking for the weapon, the trial heard.
His defence lawyer, Mariell Lehman, argued that “James had no idea that his son was having a hard time”.
Crumbley did not testify, unlike his wife, who took the stand during her trial and tried to blame her husband. She faces up to 60 years in prison.
Jennifer Crumbley and her husband bought the 9mm Sig Sauer pistol their son used just days before the shooting.
They were charged by police within days of the killings. Police had to search for the pair and found them in an industrial building in Detroit following a tip from the public.
Initially, the parents were supposed to be tried together but in November sought separate trials.
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