The two parents of a 15-year-old boy have been sentenced by a Michigan court in the US after they failed to prevent their 15-year-old son from killing 4 teenagers at school.
This conviction is considered historic because for the first time the parents are held responsible for their inaction and were convicted on the basis of the charge, involuntary manslaughter.
James and Jennifer Crumbley expressed regret for their son Ethan Crumbley's attack in 2021.
The judge said the sentence of 10 to 15 years was "to act as a deterrent" and reflected the parents' failure to stop the attack when they had the opportunity and ignored warnings.
Prosecutors said the parents ignored clear signs their son's mental health was deteriorating and bought him the gun he used to kill four students and wound seven others with a semiautomatic pistol at Oxford High School.
On the day of the high school shooting, the teenager's parents interrupted a school meeting about a disturbing drawing their son had made, instead deciding to go to work and not take him home.
School staff later sent him to class without checking his backpack, which contained the gun his parents had bought.