James, Jennifer Crumbley Return To Court

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The parents of a 15-year-old boy charged with killing four students at his Michigan high school were scheduled to return Tuesday to court for a pretrial hearing on involuntary manslaughter charges.

Jennifer and James Crumbley also are accused of making the gun used in the Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School available to their son, Ethan, and failing to intervene when he showed signs of mental distress at home and at school.

They were ordered last month to stand trial in Oakland County Circuit Court.

The Crumbleys' attorneys have insisted the couple didn't know their son might plan an attack and didn't make the gun easy to find in their home.

Their son is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, terrorism and gun charges in the shooting at his school, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Detroit. Six other students and a teacher were wounded.

His attorneys have filed a notice of an insanity defense. He is lodged alone in a cell in the Oakland County Jail's clinic to keep him from seeing and hearing adult inmates.

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald filed a motion last week requesting that his name not be spoken openly in court or used in writing in the case against his parents. McDonald said she wanted to avoid giving any notions of fame or notoriety to their son.

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