Parents of Michigan shooting victims speak before James, Jennifer Crumbley sentenced for son's attack
The parents of several teenagers killed in a 2021 Michigan school shooting spoke in court Tuesday, asking the judge for the maximum sentence for the parents of school shooter Ethan Crumbley, just prior to them being sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison each.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in two separate trials, one count for each victim killed -- Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17.
Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of 17-year-old Baldwin, spoke first, describing her daughter and the heartbreak she has endured due to her loss, saying "it will hurt for an eternity."
"You both took four beautiful children away from this world," Beausoleil said, often holding back tears during the statement.
"You failed as parents," she continued. "The punishment that you face will never be enough. It will never bring her back."
Beausoleil called the "lack of compassion" shown by the Crumbley parents "disgusting."
"Those decisions that you made ultimately took my life my daughter's life because you decided that you didn't want to parent and listen to your son. You took the right away from me to be a mother," Beausoleil said.
Prosecutors had asked for 10 to 15 years in prison for each parent, well above the seven-year sentencing guideline in the case. Lawyers for the parents had argued for time served; each has been in prison since December 2021.
The parents of Shilling, who was 17 when he was killed, each spoke Tuesday.
"Justin was brave, spending his final moments protecting a fellow student," Jill Soave, Shilling's mother, said in court.
Soave called both cases "deeply disturbing."
"The ripple effects of both James and Jennifer's failures to act have devastated us all. This tragedy was completely preventable. If only they had done something, anything to shift the course of that on Nov. 3, our four angels would be here today," Soave said.
"If only, your honor, they had taken their son to get counseling instead of buying him a gun. If only they had secured that gun. If only they had spoken up that day in the counseling office. If only they had checked his backpack. If only they had taken him home or taken him to counseling instead of abandoning him at that school," Soave said.
Soave read a birthday card her son had given her, describing it as an example of what love looks like between a mother and son.
"It is devastating and heartbreaking that it doesn't appear that either of you cherished or even wanted your son. But I wholeheartedly wanted and cherished mine. You have failed your son and you have failed us all," Soave said.
Shilling's father said he has struggled every day since his son was killed.
"We're coming up on two and a half years now and I can assure you that the wounds are still as fresh as they were," Craig Shilling said.
"It's fair to say that I live every day with pain, anger, heartache, regret, anxiety, stress, you name it," he said.
He said his son's loss has left a "glaringly obvious" hole that has touched every aspect of his life.
"The blood of our children is on your hands, too," Shilling told the Crumbleys.
Reina St. Juliana, Hana St. Juliana's sister, called the maximum sentence too short, saying her sister didn't even get to live to the age 15.
"She took her last breath in her own pool of blood," Reina St. Juliana said.
"Your mistakes created an everlasting failure," she said. "You caused the most cruel thing I can ever imagine."
