James Crumbley, Following His Wife and Son, Stands Trial for Michigan Shooting

Opening statements are set to begin Thursday morning in the trial of James Crumbley, in the same Pontiac, Mich., courtroom where his wife was convicted last month for failing to stop their son from carrying out the worst school shooting in Michigan history.

Mr. Crumbley faces the same charges as his wife, Jennifer Crumbley: four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the four students killed by their son, who was 15 when he opened fire in a hallway at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021.

The teenager, Ethan, pleaded guilty last year to 24 charges, including first-degree murder. But in a rare move, prosecutors have also sought to hold his parents criminally responsible, saying they neglected warning signs about their son’s mental health and plans for the deadly rampage, which also injured seven people.

Their lawyers have said that the couple had no inkling that their son was capable of such violence, and Ms. Crumbley, 45, testified that she had not seen him as a danger to others. Jurors, however, found her guilty after 11 hours of deliberation.

Mr. Crumbley, 47, who requested a separate trial, will face a different jury but many of the same arguments from prosecutors, along with an additional factor for the jurors to consider: He bought the 9-millimeter Sig Sauer handgun that his son used to kill his schoolmates, Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17; and Hana St. Juliana, 14.

That purchase, which happened four days before the shooting and was intended as an early Christmas present, “is the one differentiating factor that makes his case more of an uphill battle” for Mr. Crumbley, said Mark Chutkow, a lawyer and former federal prosecutor in Michigan.