Experts mixed on impact of Crumbley verdict, but some see message for parents

An Oakland County jury broke new ground Tuesday by holding the mother of a school shooter criminally responsible for her child’s actions, but Metro Detroit legal experts had mixed opinions about how the guilty verdict might influence other cases.

Some said it would set a precedent for other parents to be held criminally accountable for their kids’ actions, while at least one former Oakland County prosecutor said it wouldn’t. Several predicted the guilty verdict in a first-of-its-kind case and noted the risk of the defense in putting Jennifer Crumbley on the stand didn’t pay off. Crumbley, 45, was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter tied to the 2021 killings of four Oxford High School students by her son.

David Griem, a former federal prosecutor and Detroit defense attorney, expected either a conviction or a hung jury. He suspected publicity played a role in the verdict and people “are tired of this type of shooting case.” The conviction sends a message to parents, he added.

“Guns kill people, and maybe a message should be sent that parents should think twice before buying a child a gun” and making it easy to access, Griem said.

Birmingham attorney David Nacht also wasn’t surprised about the guilty verdict, but he doesn’t think it will open the door to more people other than the shooter being charged in mass shooting cases.

“I think this was an exceptional case,” Nacht said. “This particular defendant acted in a fashion that was abhorrent for gun owners and abhorrent for parents.”

Decisions made in trial courts do not legally bind other trial courts, so the Crumbley jury’s decision won’t set a precedent on where the bar is to put parents on trial for involuntary manslaughter — “none whatsoever,” said David Gorcyca, a former Oakland County prosecutor and current attorney with Giarmarco Mullins &Horton P.C.

But George Donnini, an attorney with Butzel Long who practices criminal defense, took a more equivocal view than Gorcyca of the influence Jennifer Crumbley’s case could have. Other prosecutors may feel comfortable bringing cases against parents, even with different circumstances, because one prosecutor has now shown it’s possible to get a conviction, he said.

“Only time will tell,” Donnini said. “The prosecutor Karen McDonald said these were very rare circumstances, but that this is that rare case.”