Prosecutors on Wednesday said they will ask a judge to sentence the Michigan parents convicted in their son’s deadly school shooting to 10 to 15 years in prison each, according to copies of the prosecution memos obtained by NBC News.
James and Jennifer Crumbley, both found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in separate trials, are facing up to 15 years in prison per the four counts — each representing a student killed by their son, Ethan, in 2021.
In Michigan, Oakland County prosecutors said, felonies that rise out of the same event must run concurrently, so the most the judge can impose is 15 years in total.
The prosecution in its sentencing memos argued to Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews that the parents’ cases called for sentences that exceed the advisory guideline range.
In each of the cases, prosecutors wrote that the parents’ “gross negligence changed an entire community forever.”
They both could have prevented the shooting with “tragically simple actions,” prosecutors wrote, adding that they “failed to take any action when presented with the gravest of dangers.”
The Crumbleys are set to be sentenced on the same day — April 9 — in an Oakland County court. It was not immediately clear if it would be at the same time, although families of the slain students are expected to read victim impact statements and court officials may choose to have the parents appear together for logistical purposes.
The sentencing would be the first time the Crumbley parents — who can’t communicate with each other from jail — could potentially see each other since they attended joint hearings before their trials were severed.
The sentencing memo for James Crumbley referenced alleged threats he made against the prosecutor, saying “his jail calls show a total lack of remorse” and “he blames everyone but himself.”
The memo details the expletive-ridden threats in which he directly addressed the prosecutor on multiple recorded jail calls. In one call before the…
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