Jennifer Crumbley Found Guilty on 4 Counts of Manslaughter – Setting Precedent on Liability Rules
In a national precedent setting case that could establish liability rules henceforth, Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty on the man slaughter charges stemming from the mass shooting committed by her son.
Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the teenager who killed four students at an Oxford, Michigan, high school in 2021, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a trial that stood as a test of the limits of who’s responsible for a school shooting.
Jennifer Crumbley was convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter, a charge that comes with a maximum punishment of up to 15 years in prison for each count. –CNN
She is scheduled to be sentenced on April 9th and could face up to 60 years in prison total for her lack of control over her minor son’s firearm.
This case answers the long held question on if parents of shooters can be held liable for the actions of their children. The answer, at least in a case with these egregious circumstances, is yes. Those persons who hold legal control over firearms will now likely have to establish clear and concise delineation that no access to their firearms was permitted and that prudent steps were in place to prevent that access in the event of criminal misuse of the firearm.
That precedent aligns with new legislation going into effect in Michigan on February 13th that lays out liability and supervisory mandates for gun owners who will be around minors and if those minors could access the firearm(s).
