The parents of the Michigan high school shooter Ethan Crumbly
have been sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
Both been convicted of involuntary manslaughter,
becoming the first parents in the US to be held
criminally responsible for their child S mass shooting.
The then a 15 year old killing four students.
Tate Meyer, Hannah St., Juliana,
Madison Baldwin, and Justin Schilling in the
2021 shooting. The parents of the victims delivering emotional impact
statements during the sentencing.
Watch. This tragedy is taking hey
incredible toll on our family.
I request that the maximum sentence be enforced as it
will never come close to the life sentence I was
given.
We're coming up on 2 1/2 years now,
and I can assure you
that the wounds are still as fresh as they were
on that tragic thing.
I am forever denied the chance to hold her or
her future children in my arms.
Katie Chutkowski is a constitutional law attorney and former federal
prosecutor.
She joins me now. Katie,
your reaction to the sentences?
Well, those were very significant sentences.
Obviously, this isn't an unprecedented finding of convictions for manslaughter
for the parents of a school shooter,
but clearly the judge communicated that she felt that there
was a lot of of aggravating factors,
including the nature of the offenses and perhaps the lack
of remorse of the parents that led to that very
high sentence.
Well, let's listen to the parents.
Here's what the Cromley parents had to say yesterday.
This is done by filing the claim of appeal by
right or when you're or when you are not entitled
to file a claim of appeal by right
and Application for Leave to
OK. Obviously we didn't hear from the parents there but
but in general they said they were apologetic but they
also had an implication that this could happen
to any parent out there.
And even though this conviction and sentence came down from
a Michigan court to their point what precedent could this
set in the other 49 states?
Well, it's a very interesting charging scheme that was used
here.
Essentially, the prosecutor said that the parents recklessness in ignoring
their sons signs of mental issues and ignoring some other
issues with the school that they were aware of on
the very day of the shooting was reckless enough to
be criminal.
And so in in terms of liability for parents and
other circumstances,
there's really no telling what the extent of that is.
If parents do have some information that their child struggles
with something,
if they do give their children access to maybe even
a car or alcohol or in this case,
a gun, then could they be held criminally responsible?
Historically, we haven't seen that.
But with the the precedent set here,
there is that possibility for other prosecutions to take place.
Yeah, it really is a Where do you draw the
line question.
In your experience, knowing how the system works,
knowing how federal prosecutors and prosecutors in general work,
do you expect to see more prosecutions of parents not
just for a horrific school shooting,
but other acts that a kid could take for which
the parent could not just be held civilly responsible,
which they are in many instances now,
but this criminal liability attaching?
Well, I think that it's very possible,
but in this case we have to remember that there's
very specific evidence of the foreseeability that the prosecution kind
of displayed that the parents had to the the their
sons ultimate shooting. So they were aware that he had
mental health issues.
They were aware that they had given him access to
a firearm.
And then of course on the day of the shooting,
they were aware that he had made some very specific
drawings that seemed very threatening.
And so in that case,
when you have those very close ties to the ultimate
act,
the foreseeability is easy to see or at least that's
what the the jury found here.
So I think you'd have to have more than just
issues hypothetically with a child that then led to a
criminal act.
But again, the waters haven't been tested yet.
So certainly I think that there could be some creative
prosecutors out there that try to hold parents responsible for
any
criminal acts of their minor children.
I'm glad you mentioned the word foreseeability because that leads
me to think there's going to be a state legislature
one or two or maybe a bunch out there that
create a standard of care about 10 seconds.
Could you see these legislators creating a standard of care,
codifying it in law? Well,
they could do that, but they don't necessarily have to
because we already have the recklessness statutes on the books,
which is what was used in this case.
It wasn't a new statute,
but certainly if they want to be more specific about
parents liability for foreseeable acts of their minor children,
then that is very possible.
This case is a horrific case.
We pray for those families that gave those statements.
But from a legal perspective,
this just opened up a new world of law,
I think. And we all have to be on the
lookout for it.
It's going to be interesting to see how it plays
out.
Katie Churkowski is always a pleasure.
Thank you. Thank you. Carly,
over to you.