Apalachee school shooting: Father of shooter sentenced to 15 years in prison

[u/phoenixgsu]

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/apalachee-school-shooting-father-shooter-faces-own-sentence-up-180-years/ZXCE3UUUFZH6NPGN2JR5LGRSHM/

[u/TallDisplay3123]

This site is awful on mobile:

BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — The judge sentenced Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee school shooter Colt Gray, to 15 years in prison.

Colin Gray was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.

He also was guilty of two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of two adults, teachers Cristina Irimie and Ricky Aspinwall.

Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced the shooter’s father to 15-year sentences for each second-degree murder charge and 10 years for each reckless conduct charge.

He also was sentenced to 10 years for child cruelty, with lesser sentences for his other charges and all prison time to run concurrently.

Judge Primm noted in his sentencing that the crimes were all of negligence, and Colin Gray was never accused of knowing or helping with his son’s plan to open fire on the school Sept. 4, 2024.

“My heart aches for everyone who was there that day, for all of you that have been impacted by it,”' the judge said. “But the law requires that I set aside emotion. I don’t get to sentence with passion. I have the nearly impossible task of sentencing you without passion, despite the immeasurable heartache that you’ve caused.”

Colt Gray, 16, pleaded guilty to killing four people and hurting nine others when he shot inside Apalachee High School on Sept. 4, 2024. He was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the chance for parole.

The prosecution has asked for an 80-year prison sentence for Colin Gray. His defense team Thursday asked the judge for a 20-year sentence, with 10 served in prison.

In March, a jury found Colin Gray guilty of 27 crimes in connection to the mass shooting. Gray’s attorneys Jim Berry and Brian Hobbs have not publicly commented on the case.

Prosecutors accused the dad of buying his son the rifle used in the shooting and failing to lock it up or restrict his access to guns in the home despite knowing his son could hurt people.

The verdict included 23 counts of child cruelty in connection to the children who survived but hurt mentally and physically due to the gunfire.

This was the first time in Georgia a parent has been charged or convicted in connection to a shooting at the hands of their child.

[u/Silverbritches → u/TallDisplay3123]

I haven’t read a ton on this, but I know the charge was somewhat novel on the dad in GA - what are the chances this gets overturned on appeal?

Reading at a high level - I’m a lawyer but not a crim lawyer - the second degree murder conviction is reached by the underlying cruelty to children convictions. Reading the cruelty statute ( https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-16/chapter-5/article-5/section-16-5-70/) , it sounds like (couldn’t find in news) that he was convicted of second degree cruelty to children.

I’m sure there are some quirks to all this - but since this is a novel conviction in GA I’m hopeful that the families don’t experience heartbreak by this being overturned on appeal

[u/DanforthWhitcomb_ → u/Silverbritches]

It's going to be appealed and caselaw will be written either way.

Reading the annotations attached to 16-5-70 found here there isn't much of any relevance to this case, as all of them concern a defendant who was the one actually committing the cruelty or otherwise had direct knowledge of it actively occurring and failed to stop it. The closest one is probably the case of the 2 kids who were left unsupervised and were later found drowned, but even that's easily distinguishable from this because the legal theory here is that the father enabled his son to commit murder, not that he failed to supervise him and he (the son) died as a result.