Hello Podcast Family,
This marks the official launch of Shaping Opinion 2.0, and it’s not without its hiccups. We had an excellent interview with our guest Mark Chutkow on a very sensitive topic. As you’ll see and hear on Monday’s episode, his insights are tremendous.
However, in my first “live” use of our new recording platform, I forgot to hit a switch that would have turned my own mic on for the live stream. So, what you will hear is the computer back-up recording of my side of the interview, and not the usual studio-quality you’re used to. The way the platform is set up, I couldn’t hear that my mic wasn’t feeding into the recording. (Lessons learned)
Otherwise, I think you’ll get a good sense of the new direction we’re taking with the podcast. Deep-dive, shorter, tighter, forward-looking and timely.
Monday’s Episode
On Monday, we talk with attorney Mark Chutkow. He’s an attorney with the law firm of Dykema. He is not actively or directly involved with the case we’ll be talking about in this episode, but he has followed it closely. Mark is an experienced and accomplished litigator based in Michigan where the case we’ll be talking about was tried. Mark represents clients who are accused of regulatory or criminal wrongdoing. He’s a former federal prosecutor. He won landmark cases, where the led the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit.
The case centers on the parents of a school shooter who were convicted for their own negligence in not seeing their son’s warning signs and doing something about it. To make matters worse, they may have contributed to the tragedy buy buying their son the gun that would be used two days later in the killing of his four classmates.
The Oxford High School Shootings
For background, on November 30, 2021, Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 years old at the time, entered Oxford High School in a Detroit suburb with a 9 mm handgun. He then shot and killed four students and injured seven others. One of them was a teacher.
Ethan was charged as an adult for 24 different crimes. He pleaded guilty to all of those crimes in October 2022. In December 2023, Ethan was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
His victims included: Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Justin Shilling and Hana St. Juliana.
Parents are Charged and Convicted
What happened next is the twist and the focus of our interview. Ethan’s parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley were also charged in the case. Jennifer and James Crumbley were charged with involuntary manslaughter for failing to secure the handgun used in the shooting.
The parents did not appear for their arraignment and were the subjects of a manhunt by U.S. Marshals. Once captured, they were tried and convicted separately of four counts each of involuntary manslaughter. They were sentenced in April 2024 to 10-15 years in prison (with the possibility of parole after 10 years). This was the maximum sentence.
In our interview we talk about everything from just how unprecedented this is, and what it could mean to future prosecutions in similar cases.
If you’re not already, please make sure to subscribe to the Shaping Opinion podcast wherever you get your podcasts, now including YouTube and Rumble!