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Judge Sentences Parents Of Michigan School Shooter To 10-15 Years In Prison

(Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

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James and Jennifer Crumbley made history Tuesday as the first parents to be convicted and sentenced concerning their child’s school shooting that resulted in the death of four students at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021, according to NBC News.

The Crumbleys were convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March after the prosecution argued the parents showed a “significant lack of remorse” and James Crumbley threatened the prosecuting attorney Karen McDonald, according to CNN. Judge Cheryl Matthews ordered that both James and Jennifer Crumbley be sentenced to 10 to 15 years after the prosecution requested the maximum 15-year sentences for both defendants, according to NBC News. (RELATED: Florida Elementary School Students Charged Over Alleged Handgun Transaction, Police Say)

Ethan Crumbley was 15 when he shot and killed four students and injured seven others in November 2021 and later he was charged with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of terrorism causing death, seven counts of assault with intent to murder, and 12 counts of felony firearm. The prosecution in James and Jennifer’s cases argued that both parents had been willfully negligent regarding their son and that James Crumbley buying the murder weapon made him complicit.

PONTIAC, MICHIGAN - MARCH 13: James Crumbley, father of Oxford High School school shooter Ethan Crumbley, speaks with his attorney while waiting to be removed from the courtroom as the jury begins their deliberations during his trial on four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of four Oxford High School students who were shot and killed by his son, on March 13, 2024 at Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac, Michigan. Crumbley's wife Jennifer Crumbley was convicted on the same four counts at her trial last month, the first time in U.S. history that a parent was tried in relation to a mass school shooting that was committed by their child. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

James Crumbley, father of Oxford High School school shooter Ethan Crumbley on March 13, 2024, at Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac, Michigan. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

During their sentencing, James and Jennifer Crumbley apologized to the families of their son’s victims, according to CNN.

“I sit here today to express my deepest sorrows for the families of Hana, Tate, Madisyn, Justin and to all those affected on November 30, 2021,” Jennifer Crumbley said.

OXFORD, MI - DECEMBER 07: An exterior view of Oxford High School on December 7, 2021 in Oxford, Michigan. One week ago, four students were killed and seven others injured on November 30, when student Ethan Crumbley allegedly opened fire with a pistol at the school.15-year-old Ethan Crumbley has been charged along with his parents James and Jennifer Crumbley who have been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter (Photo by Emily Elconin/Getty Images)

OXFORD, MI – DECEMBER 07: An exterior view of Oxford High School on December 7, 2021 in Oxford, Michigan. (Photo by Emily Elconin/Getty Images)

“I want to say I can’t imagine the pain and agony … for the families that have lost their children and what they are experiencing and what they are going through,” James Crumbley said in his statement. “As a parent, our biggest fear is losing our child or our children, and to lose a child is unimaginable. My heart is really broken for everybody involved.”

PONTIAC, MICHIGAN – FEBRUARY 22: Ethan Crumbley attends a hearing at Oakland County circuit court on February 22, 2022 in Pontiac, Michigan. . (Photo by David Guralnick-Pool/Getty Images)

Matthews announced Tuesday that the parents and their son would not be held in the same facility together, according to NBC News. Jennifer Crumbley will go to the state’s female prison and Ethan Crumbley is in a state prison near Oxford, Michigan.

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