Judge pushes hearing for Michigan school shooting suspect’s parents until after holidays

A judge has pushed the hearing back for the parents of the Michigan school shooter suspect until after the holidays.

Judge Julie Nicholson granted a request Tuesday by the prosecutors and defense attorneys in the case to give more time to gather and share evidence, The Associated Press reported.

James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of suspected Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, which they pleaded not guilty.

The next hearing will now take place on Feb. 8 instead of Dec. 22. 

“These funerals have just recently concluded,”  lead prosecutor Karen McDonald said, according to the AP. “The prosecutor’s office has a lot of work to do with a lot of the victims and the families. We do not think it’s in their best interest or in the interests of justice to do that during the holiday season.”

The parents are charged with involuntary manslaughter after they gifted their teenager a gun and did not take action when they were made aware that Ethan Crumbley drew a picture with the words “blood everywhere” along with illustrations of dead people. 

“This is a very serious, horrible, terrible murder and shooting, and it has affected the entire community,” McDonald previously said. “And these two individuals could have stopped it. They had every reason [to believe] that he was dangerous, and they gave him a [gun], and they didn’t secure it, and they allowed him free access to it.”

The defense attorneys for the parents argued the gun was locked away and the prosecution wasn’t presenting the whole truth. 

Four students died and multiple others were injured after suspected 15-year-old shooter Ethan Crumbley opened fire in his school in Michigan.