Colin Gray, father of alleged mass shooter Colt Gray, entered a not guilty plea without even entering the Atlanta, Georgia, courtroom. His lawyers handled the whole thing. They’re planning a serious challenge to their client’s prosecution because he’s only the third parent to be charged with the high-profile crimes of their offspring. They’re going to have a real hard time showing he doesn’t share equal responsibility. The facts indicate he does.
Father enters plea
The father of Colt Gray allegedly purchased the AR-15-style rifle which was used to murder two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.
Prosecutors are charging Colin Gray with two counts of second-degree murder for the actions of his son. They have good reason to allege he “shares responsibility for the September shooting.”
The same way Colt’s father was missing in his son’s life, he was missing in court on Thursday. The November 21 hearing was attended by Defense attorney Jimmy Berry, “who waived a formal arraignment.” Let’s just get this circus started so I can bring in the elephants, he muttered to himself.
In total, Gray is looking at 29 separate charges. Besides the murder counts, there’s a matching pair for involuntary manslaughter.
While it’s unusual for the parent of a criminal to be charged for the crimes of their child, in this case the grand jury was convinced the father had a hand in the murder spree. It’s bad enough that Colin gave his son “access to a firearm and ammunition.”
The part which makes him equally responsible is the fact he had received “sufficient warning that Colt Gray would endanger the bodily safety of another.” That, prosecutors say, is “a substantial and unjustifiable risk.”
Third parent held responsible
Gray’s lawyer believes the underlying principle that Colin is being prosecuted under is new enough on the legal scene that he should be able to shoot a few holes in it. Colt’s father “is only the third person charged in the U.S. in connection with a school shooting by their child.”
When Jennifer and James Crumbley, both mental health professionals, allowed “their son Ethan Crumbley to have a gun despite his declining mental health,” they were charged. The trial jury found them both guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Their son was sentenced to life without parole for “killing four classmates at Oxford High School in Michigan.”
Just like the Crumbley’s, Colt’s father should have known better than to give him a gun. Especially not an assault rifle.
He’s going to have a hard time convincing the jury he doesn’t share nearly equal responsibility with his son. Not when they see the video from a police bodycam. One which shows officers informing Colin that Colt threatened to shoot up his school.
A mere seven months after police rang the doorbell and issued a warning to get Colt some help, his father bought the murder weapon as a Christmas present. Besides the four who where killed, Colt left another nine injured. He’s going to be tried on a whopping 55 counts, “including four counts each of malice murder and felony murder.” He’s also going to be tried as an adult.
The defense team for Colin told the press after the hearing that they’ll be filing “more than two dozen new motions” in favor of Colt’s father. Both Colin and Colt have been sitting in a cell since arrested, Mr. Berry “did not enter a request for bond Thursday.“
