Michael Hakim Week 3 - Judge Gets Angry at Accused School Shooter’s Parents

     On November 30, 2021, Ethan Crumbley was accused of shooting up his school, gunning down four students. He is now being charged in court as an adult and is pleading not guilty. His parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley are also being charged with involuntary manslaughter in relation to the shooting. Recently, in court, on December 14th and January 7th, they were noticed mouthing the words “I love you” to each other. The two were also caught blowing kisses at each other, which came as a shock to many around the world. These “gestures” occurred during a preliminary hearing last Tuesday, which was held in order to decide whether enough evidence is present to send Jennifer and James Crumbley to a trial.

     These gestures, though romantic, have angered many people, including District Court Judge Julie Nicholson, who was in court during these incidents. Nicholson told the defendants, "Mr. and Mrs. Crumbley, this is a court proceeding," while they were at the defense table, separated only by a glass wall. To further add to her point, she concluded by saying “While maybe I'm looking away or someone else is looking away, you're not to have communication with each other. It's disruptive. It's disrespectful.”

     The parents are now prohibited from many any gestures at each other or communicating in any way in court. Whether or not you agree with this ruling, one thing is evident - judge Julie Nicholson was not having any of Jennifer and James’ romantic gestures. This story is still developing, and these court cases are still to be determined, as there isn’t a final ruling yet.


Do you think that these romantic gestures were justified? Did the judge have a right to get this angry?


Source:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-tells-accused-michigan-school-shooters-parents-not-communicate-c-rcna15331 



Comments

  1. AnonymousFeb 8, 2022, 11:52:00 AM

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  2. AnonymousFeb 8, 2022, 11:53:00 AM

    Honestly, I think the judge was being a bit dramatic. Although, I do understand her reasoning of getting agitated. If I were the judge, I would tolerate some romantic hand and word gestures as long as they were appropriate. For all the guilty know, they may never see each other ever again. On the contrary, if this family was continuously sending each other these gestures over and over again, I agree with the judge because there comes a point where too much is disrespectful to everyone else that is taking part in the court case.

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  3. AnonymousFeb 9, 2022, 9:26:00 AM

    I think that the judge ordering the parents to not make gestures towards each other was maybe overblown, but it wasn't wrong. It isn't bad to say that you don't think there should be PDA in a courtroom and prohibit it like the judge did, but I also don't think it matters if they blew kisses at each other or not. The main focus should be the crime they allegedly committed and facts or evidence relevant to that case, not whether or not they expressed love towards each other.

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  4. AnonymousFeb 9, 2022, 10:13:00 AM

    I think that no matter whether or not the parents are convicted or acquitted they are in a period of distress in their lives. Often when we are under stress we look to others to make us feel calmer, but they don't have each other to turn to. It could potentially be distracting at a court hearing if they acted this way, but I think the judge was being a bit too harsh and this incident was just a way for the parents to cope with their situation.

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  5. AnonymousFeb 14, 2022, 10:22:00 PM

    I think that even though these romantic gestures the parents were making throughout court was disrespectful, I think that the judge did overreact. I feel as though the judge was not thinking about how the parents felt during this time as their child was being accused in court of shooting up a school but, at the same time, the parents shouldn't have constantly been making these gestures during an important court hearing.

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