By Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – While there is not much precedent, criminal charges could be brought against Ethan Crumbley’s parents. However, experts believe that prosecutors might have a case.

Detroit Police stated that James Crumbley and Jennifer Crumbley were taken into custody on Saturday morning.

Michigan prosecutors on Friday charged https://www.reuters.com/world/us/parents-michigan-teen-accused-school-shooting-could-face-own-charges-2021-12-03 the couple with involuntary manslaughter for buying their son the weapon as a Christmas gift and ignoring warning signs as late as the day of the shooting. According to them, Jennifer Crumbley sent her son a text saying, “LOL! I am not mad at YOU.” He was caught by a teacher searching his mobile phone for ammunition while he was in class.

Ethan Crumbley was found with a sketch that he had drawn of a pistol, a bullet and a bleeding man. James and Jennifer Crumbley refused to take their son home or search his bag for the gun after being shown the photograph.

Mariell Lehman and Shannon Smith, the Crumbleys lawyers denied Friday reports that clients had fled law enforcement.

Michigan has no laws that hold gun owners accountable for not securing weapons around children. According to experts, this means that prosecutions will be using traditional criminal law. They must show that the Crumbleys are not only negligent, but negligent or reckless.

Ethan Crumbley, a minor, has been charged with adultery.

FIRST CASE AGAINST PARENTS

This case seems to be the first in which parents have been charged with a teenager school shooting victim. Experts say that while other parents have been accused of killing their children with unsecured guns in the past, these cases involve much younger children.

One case in Michigan was where a 6-year-old used a gun to kill a classmate. The owner of the weapon, according to Michigan State University, pleaded not guilty to voluntary manslaughter. April Zeoli from Michigan State University’s School of Criminal Justice said that the case offered a close parallel to those of the Crumbleys. It also provided precedents for holding the owners liable. Another case involved an adult accused of failing to obtain a gun for a student who was injured in school shootings.

Robert Leider is a Professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. He said that this and other cases are different than the Crumbleys because children cannot legally have criminal intent.

“Here’s a young man who is capable of committing his own crime,” Leider explained. “That is enough to break the chain of causality” between Crumbleys, the shooting and them.

Eric Ruben is a Southern Methodist University professor in the Dedman School of Law. He said that whether or not prosecutors succeed will depend on both their facts and how they approach it. A case that focuses on the Crumbleys’ actions – such as buying the gun even though it was high-risk – will likely be stronger than one that focuses on the failures.

For them to be convicted of failing to act, he stated, prosecutions would need to establish that they had a duty towards the victims to indict the parents.

Michigan law bans under-18s from possessing or buying firearms. However, there are limited exceptions such as when they hunt with a license and an adult supervising. Karen McDonald, Oakland County Prosecutor, stated that the charges were meant to send a message to gun owners: they have a responsibility.

Ruben stated that the parents will likely defend themselves, arguing that it was impossible to foresee that their actions would result in the shooting. Therefore they cannot be held responsible.

Lawrence Dubin of the University of Detroit Mercy was a professor of law. According to Dubin it is possible that the charges of manslaughter could have been supported if parents knew their son was mentally unstable but allowed him access to the firearm anyway.

Leider stated that the facts as alleged by prosecutors seemed “egregious.”

He said, “They evidently knew that their child was troubled” and went out of their way for him to be armarmed.