Colin Gray’s second-degree murder conviction has some attorneys questioning if the high-profile prosecution could have wider implications for parents in Georgia and beyond.
The Barrow County case marks the first time in the country a parent was convicted of murder for a school shooting allegedly carried out by their child.
In the only other case like it to have proceeded to trial, the parents of a teen who killed four people at a Michigan school were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to a decade in prison.
Legal experts told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Gray’s conviction was different because Barrow prosecutors leveraged the state’s second-degree murder statute to hold the father accountable for the deaths of two 14-year-olds allegedly killed by his son at school.
But defense attorney Noah Pines, who wasn’t involved in the Gray case, raised concerns the novel case could open the door for more murder charges to be levied against other guardians accused of neglect.
Credit: Abbey Cutrer/AJC
Credit: Abbey Cutrer/AJC
What if a kid steals the keys to a car and ends up killing their friend or another child, for instance? Or what happens if a teenager takes a knife from their kitchen and uses it to commit murder?
“We’re not on a slippery slope. We’re down a slippery slope,” Pines told the AJC.
Attorneys said the Georgia law was intended to charge parents or guardians whose negligent actions result in a child’s death: leaving a baby to die in a hot car, for example, or going inside for hours while a toddler remains unattended at the pool. It’s predicated on a second-degree child cruelty charge.
“I think it is a complete stretch of second-degree murder, and not anything the Legislature intended when they passed the law,” Pines said.
Credit: Abbey Cutrer/AJC
Credit: Abbey Cutrer/AJC
Prosecutors argued there were plenty of warning signs that Colin Gray ignored. Colt Gray had an infatuation with school shooters, they said at trial, including a “shrine” on his bedroom wall featuring Nikolas Cruz, the Florida teen who killed 17 people and wounded 17 others in the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
Still, the 14-year-old was given access to a rifle, ammunition and tactical gear.
Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said he hopes Tuesday’s conviction will help “move the needle” when it comes to holding parents accountable for the actions of their children.
“You just had to do one thing: take that rifle away, and this would have been prevented,” he said after the verdict.
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Other former district attorneys argued charging Gray with second-murder was the right move considering the facts of this case.
“Watching him testify, it was kind of the perfect example of someone who sends himself to prison,” former Gwinnett County DA Danny Porter said. “I think he did a pretty good job of putting himself in the penitentiary.”
In recorded interviews shown to jurors, the elder Gray spoke with investigators for hours without an attorney present. He acknowledged giving his son the weapon as a Christmas gift, even after social workers and school administrators had urged him to seek counseling for the teen. And he had seen the photos and news clippings on the boy’s bedroom wall.
On the stand, Colin Gray acknowledged he could have done more.
Porter said the state’s second-degree murder law was designed to deal with neglect. Gray’s conviction, however, is “new ground” that may have to be taken up by appellate courts.
“There are definitely lines that are going to have to be drawn, and they may have to be drawn by the Legislature,” he said.
As for the decision to charge that father in the wake of the mass shooting that killed two students and two teachers, Porter called it a “no-brainer,” especially after seeing the weapon.
“This isn’t the Norman Rockwell, ‘give your kid a .22 for Christmas,’” said Porter, who spent nearly three decades as Gwinnett’s top prosecutor. “To give that to a 14-year-old, even a non-disturbed 14-year-old, is just insane to me.”
Credit: Abbey Cutrer/AJC
Credit: Abbey Cutrer/AJC
Defense attorney Doug Weinstein said he’s still grappling with whether parents of mass shooters should be charged in connection with the crimes committed by their children.
In this case, he’s leaning toward yes, especially because Gray ignored “so many warnings” when it came to his son’s mental health and seeming obsession with school shooters.
“To me, that should set off warning bells as a parent that maybe your son should not have unfettered access to weaponry,” Weinstein said. “He made some poor decisions, but the idea of labeling that murder doesn’t sit well with me.”
Other Atlanta attorneys said the graphic photos and videos shown to jurors over the course of the two-week trial made it especially difficult for Gray’s defense team to secure an acquittal on any of the charges.
“It’s pretty hard to lose a case if you got a bunch of dead kids as a prosecutor,” appellate attorney Andrew Fleischman said.
He called Smith’s tactic “a creative application of the law” intended to punish parents for negligence that results in the deaths of their own children. Still, Fleischman said Gray’s appellate attorney might have a difficult time persuading a court to overturn the jury’s verdict.
Defense attorney Amanda Clark Palmer said she understands the push to hold someone accountable for enabling the deadliest school shooting in state history.
“It seemed like he pretty much knew his son had some pretty disturbing thoughts going on in his head. And then you give him a gun?” Palmer asked. “He certainly removed some obstacles.”
Former DeKalb County DA J. Tom Morgan said what makes this case different was the state’s ability to convince the jury that Colin Gray knew “a horrible crime like this could occur.”
“If there’s ever going to be a case where we hold parents liable in a school shooting, I think this is it,” he said.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
In this case, he said, Barrow County prosecutors made a bold move. The fact the jury convicted Gray on all 27 charges in less than two hours shows they supported that decision.
“The jury had already made up their mind before they ever walked into the jury room,” Morgan said. “And I think the jury got it absolutely right.”
Whether an appellate court upholds the father’s second-degree murder conviction is another matter, he said.
Regardless of what happens on appeal, Morgan said one thing is certain: “When we’re looking at school shootings, we’re going to see more instances like this.”
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