RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — A national conversation about parental responsibility is unfolding in the wake of a trial against Jennifer Crumbley, whose 15-year-old son will spend the rest of his life behind bars for shooting 11 people at his Michigan high school, killing four of his classmates in 2021.
The laws in Michigan are relatively parallel to the laws in North Carolina, according to litigation lawyer Donald Clack with the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin.
Crumbley is accused of not taking steps to stop her son from pulling the trigger. She’s facing involuntary manslaughter charges and could spend up to 15 years behind bars if convicted. The jury is still deliberating her case. Her husband, James Crumbley, will be tried separately for the same crime. His trial has not yet begun.
Prosecutors say Jennifer Crumbley was grossly negligent when she failed to tell Oxford High School officials that the family had guns, including a 9mm handgun that was used by her son, Ethan Crumbley, at a shooting range just a few days earlier.
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The school was concerned about a macabre drawing of a gun, bullet, and wounded man, accompanied by desperate phrases, on a math assignment. But Ethan was allowed to stay in school on Nov. 30, 2021, following a roughly 12-minute meeting with his parents, who didn’t take him home. His backpack was also not checked, though it contained the gun he would use later that day in the mass shooting.
Defense attorney Shannon Smith told jurors that a conviction would have a chilling effect on unwitting parents whose children break the law. The tragedy, she argued, was not foreseeable.
Regardless, laws in states like Michigan and North Carolina can be interpreted to hold parents accountable for the actions of their children.
Clack said he believes the prosecution in Michigan will open the door for more parents across the country to be prosecuted to hold them accountable for shootings perpetrated by their children.
“I hope that that’s the case because I don’t think plausible deniability is an all-encompassing excuse anymore,” Clack said, and he added that parents have more access to their children’s activities now than ever using technology. He said he believes parents need to take more responsibility to ensure their children aren’t a danger to others.
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In North Carolina, it’s against the law for children younger than 18 to own a handgun or to use it without the supervision of an adult in most cases.
If a child takes a gun to school, parents can be charged. If a child uses a gun to harm others, parents can be charged as well.
In most cases in North Carolina, parents would face a misdemeanor for failing to secure their firearms from their children.
It brings to mind the misdemeanor charge filed by Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman against Alan Thompson, whose 15-year-old son Austin is believed to have killed five people in the Headingham neighborhood shooting rampage in 2022. Both are still awaiting trial.
Click here for the full statute relating to minor and firearms in the state of North Carolina.
A long-lost silent film that’s believed to be the first depiction of a robot in motion pictures was rediscovered in Michigan. And it’s a great reminder for film history fans that you shouldn’t give up hope just because a film has been deemed lost.
The film, titled “Gugusse and the Automaton,” is just 45 seconds long and was created in 1897 by French film pioneer Georges Méliès. It shows a magician named Gugusse turning a large crank to control Pierrot Automate, a child-sized robot. The robot grows bigger and bigger until it’s an adult.
Once full size, the robot does a little dance before hitting Gugusse over the head with a stick. Gugusse brings the robot down from his pedestal and then shows him what’s what.
Gugusse hits the robot over the head with a gigantic mallet, each swing making the mechanical man a little smaller until he’s back to his child-like size. Another swing makes the robot a small doll and then it’s just one more mallet slap before the robot disappears completely.
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With that, the film is over.
It’s a short film with a goofy, slapstick premise. But it’s also an artifact that can be interpreted similarly to so much robot-focused media that would come later in the 20th century. The robot harms a human, the human needs to destroy the robot.
We see anti-robot stories pop up especially during difficult economic times, like the 1930s and 1970s, something I’ve written about before at length. And if you’re wondering whether there were hard economic times in France during the 1890s, there certainly were—in the form of a double dip recession, no less.
But putting aside the potential message of the film (and the risk of taking it too seriously as a sign of broader social frustrations), the story of how this film was rediscovered is fascinating.
Bill McFarland of Grand Rapids, Michigan, drove a box of films that belonged to his great-grandfather to the Library of Congress’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia so that experts could take a look at what he had.
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McFarland’s great-grandfather was a man named William Delisle Frisbee who had worked jobs as a school teacher and a potato farmer in Pennsylvania, according to a blog post from the Library of Congress. But he also worked nights as a “traveling showman,” according to the Library.
“He drove his horse and buggy from town to town to dazzle the locals with a projector and some of the world’s first moving pictures,” the Library explains. “He set up shop in a local schoolroom, church, lodge or civic auditorium and showed magic lantern slides and short films with music from a newfangled phonograph. It was shocking.”
Frisbee died in 1937 and two trunks of his possessions were passed on through generations until they made their way to McFarland, who was unable to screen the movies from himself because of their condition.
The Library posted a video to Instagram talking about their acquisition of the film and how remarkable it is that such an old film was found. It’s estimated that as much as 90% of films made before 1930 are lost to history.
Other films in the trunks included another Méliès film from 1900 titled “The Fat and Lean Wrestling Match,” fragments of a Thomas Edison movie called “The Burning Stable.” Library technicians scanned the films in 4K to preserve them for future generations.
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The word “robot” wasn’t coined until 1920 for the Czech play R.U.R. by Karel Capek. But visions of artificial men date back centuries. And it’s incredible to see a robot from the 1890s depicted on film for the first time. Even if it’s just 45 seconds long.
Don’t give up hope if you’re longing to watch some movie that’s believed to be completely lost. You never know what someone may have in a dusty old trunk in Michigan.
Kylan Boswell (4) scored 15 points for the Illini but Yaxel Lendeborg (23) scored 16 in Michigan’s win. Geoff Stellfox / Getty Images
Michigan has left no doubt about Big Ten superiority — the No. 3 Wolverines’ 84-70 romp Friday at No. 10 Illinois gives them an outright conference championship with two regular-season games remaining.
The win gives Michigan its first outright title since 2021, and it’s another top-shelf win that gives Michigan (27-2, 17-1 Big Ten) a boost in its pursuit of the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seed. This matters for the Wolverines because they would be lined up for a potential Final Four matchup with the No. 4 seed rather than either of the two teams that are also in contention for No. 1 — Duke, which beat Michigan last week to gain the inside track, and Arizona.
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Friday’s lone meeting of the regular season between two purported national contenders left Michigan looking much the part, and Illinois looking a tier lower. This was domination, a comfortable second half for a Michigan team that led by as many as 21.
Michigan sophomore big man Morez Johnson Jr., who transferred from Illinois in the offseason, heard a lot of jeers from fans at State Farm Center and responded with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Big man Aday Mara also scored 19. Yaxel Lendeborg, the star of Michigan’s jumbo frontcourt, had 16 points and seven rebounds.
That interior helped the Wolverines to a 42-32 edge in points in the paint and 22 second-chance points. Keaton Wagler had 23 points to lead Illinois (22-7, 13-5), which projected as a No. 2 seed in Tuesday’s Bracket Watch but has lost two straight games and four of six. The Illini are trending in the wrong direction and potentially heading to the three-line.
The No. 1 seed also gets to choose its tournament path, and Michigan has requested Philadelphia as its first-weekend site. Otherwise, the Wolverines will likely be placed in Buffalo, which is closer to Ann Arbor.
SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A Shelby Township woman stopped for some pizza and a Michigan Lottery ticket during her lunch break. Then, she won a $822,159 Club Keno The Jack prize.
Sue Strong, 65, matched her easy pick The Jack number, 10-26-33-50-56-58-60-67-70, to nine of the 20 Club Keno numbers that were drawn in draw 2569809, according to the Michigan Lottery.
“I regularly play Club Keno, and I always add The Jack to my ticket,” said Strong. “I went out and bought a Club Keno ticket and pizza on my lunch break and then watched the drawings on my phone while I ate. When I saw all my The Jack numbers come in and the jackpot reset to $10,000, I was shocked! It was nerve wracking and exciting, and to be honest, I’ve hardly slept since!”
The lucky player purchased her winning ticket at Party Palace Liquor Inc., at 49133 Schoenherr Road in Shelby Township.
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She plans to share her prize money with her family, pay bills and then save the rest.
This is the largest The Jack prize a player has ever won on the Club Keno game.
The previous record was set in March 2025, when a player won $677,141 from a ticket purchased at JP’s Trolley Stop in Taylor.
The Jack is an optional add-on to a Club Keno ticket that costs $1 per draw.
When playing The Jack, participants receive nine quick-pick numbers and try to match them with the numbers drawn in Club Keno. Prizes range from $1 up to the jackpot, which begins at $10,000 and increases until claimed. To hit the jackpot, all nine numbers must be matched.
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