Parents of Michigan school shooter sentenced

James Crumbley, the father of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley, addressed the courtroom, opening his statement by apologizing to the victims, something he said he had not been able to do yet.

"I want to say I can't imagine the pain and agony ... for the families that have lost their children and what they are experiencing and what they are going through. As a parent, our biggest fear is losing our child or our children, and to lose a child is unimaginable. My heart is really broken for everybody involved," he said.

Crumbley added that he was not aware his son was planning a school shooting, and he asked Judge Cheryl Matthews to "sentence me in a fair way."

Jennifer Crumbley began her statement to the court by expressing her condolences to the victims and their families.

"I sit here today to express my deepest sorrows for the families of Hana, Tate, Madisyn, Justin and to all those affected on November 30, 2021," she said.

Crumbley said that a previous statement made on the stand was "completely misunderstood."

When she took the stand in her own defense during her trial in February, she had said, “I’ve asked myself if I would have done anything differently, and I wouldn’t have.”

On Tuesday, Crumbley said that she did not foresee the actions of her son and therefore would not have done anything different, and that is how she interpreted the question.

Crumbley added that if she knew her son was capable of the crimes committed, her answer would have "absolutely been different."

James and Jennifer Crumbley continue to deflect blame, the father of a victim of the 2021 Oxford High School shooting said at the Crumbleys' sentencing Tuesday.

"The defendants, through their choices, through their indifference and gross negligence, enabled their son to murder my daughter Hana and three other children," Steve St. Juliana, the father of Hana St. Juliana, said in a victim impact statement Tuesday.

Steve St. Juliana said his daughter's death "destroyed a large portion of my very soul."

St. Juliana said his position on the Crumbleys' sentencing evolved throughout the trial as the defendants' "defiance" increased. "Hana, Madisyn, Tate, and Justin are the ones who have lost everything — not the defendants," he said before requesting the parents receive the maximum possible sentence.

Buck Myre, the father of victim Tate Myre, gave his impact statement following Steve St. Juliana. He was the last person to give an impact statement.

Reina St. Juliana, sister of Hana, who was 14 years old when she was killed in the Oxford High School shooting, opened her victim impact statement with a damning image of the impact her death has had on her family's life.

“Our 10-year-old little brother had to learn how to write a eulogy for his sister before he even learned how to write essays," she told the court.

"I met up with Hana and a friend during school that day. When we split ways to go back to class, I just looked back and smiled. I didn't say goodbye. I never got to say goodbye. I never got to remind her that I love her, that she's my everything. The person I want to walk through life with side-by-side," she said.

Reina said the maximum sentence being 15 years is "too short": "Hana didn't even have 15 years to live."

Craig Shilling, the father of 17-year-old Justin Shilling, said he believes Jennifer and James Crumbley deserve the full sentence.

Wearing a hoodie featuring a picture of his son and the words "Fly High Our Hero," Shilling described how he lives every day with "pain, anger, heartache, regret, anxiety, stress, you name it. They're all there wreaking havoc in my once normal life."

After more than two years since the deadly shooting, Craig Shilling said that the wounds caused by that day still feel fresh.

He spoke about the lack of accountability from both parents on the actions of their son.

"I just can't get over the fact that this tragedy was completely avoidable," Craig Shilling said. He said there were obvious signs that were completely overlooked and "the bulk of the responsibility to address those signs lie on the parent, and they failed — across the board failed."

The mother of a victim killed in the Oxford High School shooting said "the ripple effects of both James and Jennifer's failures to act" to prevent their son Ethan from carrying out the deadly Michigan school shooting "have devastated us all."

Soave requested the Crumbleys receive the maximum possible sentence.

Justin Shilling was "the least deserving of his fate," his mother said, adding that he spent his final moments protecting another student.

Soave also shared a heartfelt message her son wrote to her on a birthday.

"It is devastating and heartbreaking that it doesn't appear that either of you cherished or even wanted your son," she said to the Crumbleys. "But I wholeheartedly wanted and cherished mine. You have failed your son, and you have failed us all."

Nicole Beausoleil, the mother of Madisyn Baldwin, who was killed at the Oxford School shooting, described her daughter as: "smart, funny, loving, passionate, determined and genuine."

“Madisyn, she was a kind soul. She always had a smile on her face. She lit up the room when she walked in. Her laugh, I could listen to all day. It was infectious," Beausoleil told the court in her victim impact statement.

Through tears, Beausoleil questioned Jennifer Crumbley's statement in court that she would not "do anything different," by drawing comparisons between Crumbley's actions and her own.

"While you were hiding, I was planning her funeral," she added.

Ultimately, Beausoleil told the court there was one fundamental difference she wish she could have made.

"The one thing I would've wanted to be different was to take that bullet that day, so she could've continued to live the life she deserved."

Oral victim impact statements are beginning in the sentencing hearing of Jennifer and James Crumbley.

Nicole Beausoleil, mother of 17-year-old shooting victim Madisyn Baldwin, is the first to speak.

Court has resumed for the sentencing hearing of James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the teenager who killed four students in a 2021 school shooting in Oxford, Michigan.