1 of 2 | Prosecutors released details of threatening calls made by James Crumbley, the father of school shooter Ethan Crumbley, as prosecutors recommended he serve a 10-15 year prison sentence. File Photo via Oakland County Sheriff's Office/UPI |
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April 4 (UPI) -- Prosecutors requested that the parents of parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley each receive up to 15 years in prison for their alleged role in the murders carried out by their son which left four students dead
Jennifer and James Crumbley -- the first parents in United States history to be charged for their role in a school shooting by their own child -- are set to be sentenced Tuesday after each have been convicted on four counts of involuntary manslaughter.
The prosecutors in the case against both Crumbley parents are calling for the maximum sentence of 10-15 years in prison. But Oakland Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews has the power to sentence the two above or beyond the prescribed legal limit.
Jennifer Crumbley's defense asked the judge to allow her to carry out her sentence at her lawyer Shannon Smith's guest home while prosecutors are arguing for prison over what they called her "chilling lack of remorse" in statements made throughout the trial.
"Such a proposed sentence is a slap in the face to the severity of tragedy caused by (Jennifer Crumbley's) gross negligence, the victims and their families," wrote Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Marc Keast in Wednesday's sentencing memo.
In his memo, Keast wrote of James Crumbley's "shameless lack of remorse in asking for time served as an appropriate sentence" adding it was also "a slap in the face to the severity of tragedy caused by his gross negligence, to the victims and their families."
In early March, Oakland County officials revoked James Crumbley's communication privileges after he made threatening statements over a jailhouse telephone and email about Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald for seven months.
The prosecution on Wednesday released details of the expletive-laced calls in which Crumbley threatened that McDonald was "going down" and encouraged the call to be recorded and sent to McDonald so she could be told how he was going to "take her down."
"Beyond defendant's gross negligence, his jail calls show a total lack of remorse, he blames everyone but himself, and he threatened the elected Prosecutor," wrote Keast, who likewise said James Crumbley had demonstrated a lack of remorse.
"He has blamed everyone but himself and considers himself a 'martyr,' " Keast wrote in his 52-page memo on the Crumbley father.
