(GPB News) – Colin Gray, the father of suspected Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, has been found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and multiple counts of reckless conduct and cruelty to children.
The jury reached a unanimous verdict in just under two hours.
The jury started deliberating on Tuesday morning, after more than two weeks of witness testimony and evidence from the shooting.
Prosecutors with the Barrow County District Attorney’s office spent nine days laying out a multifaceted case against Gray.
They called teachers, students, medical workers, and law enforcement to the stand to testify, painting a picture of Sept. 4, 2024, and the lingering physical and mental harm done to the community.
The state also called for testimony from Colin Gray’s own family. His estranged wife, Marcee Gray, and daughter Jenni Gray testified against him.
Marcee Gray said she was aware of son’s fascination with Parkland shooter Nicholas Cruz, and she told Colin to lock his guns in his truck to keep them away from Colt.
Colin Gray’s defense attorney, Brian Hobbs, maintained that Colin had no knowledge that his son was planning to commit a school shooting, and Marcee had a greater awareness of their son’s obsession.
She also said she self-medicated Colt by cutting her Zoloft prescription into pieces.
In the weeks before the shooting, Marcee Gray made searches in reference to the parents of Ethan Crumbley, who were charged with manslaughter after their son carried out a school shooting in Oxford, Mich..
She also made specific searches about safe gun storage laws in the state of Georgia.
Defense attorneys noted Marcee’s strained relationship with her family.
Separately, Colin Gray made several searches for gun safes, but according to prosecutors, he never purchased one.
Jenni Gray, Colt’s younger sister, also testified on the stand that Colin directed her to lie to law enforcement in an initial interview. She alleged that Colin was more aware of Colt’s mental health issues than she had initially indicated.
But in cross-examination, Jenni Gray told the court that she was happier in her current foster home, and understood that if her father was convicted, she’d have a better chance of staying with them permanently.
Colin Gray took the stand in his own defense, he was the only witness to be called by defense attorneys.
He testified for more than an hour, emphasizing the difficulty of raising three kids on his own, and ultimately claimed he never could have seen this coming.
In cross-examination, prosecutors drilled Gray for three hours about inconsistencies in his testimony.
After the Tuesday conviction, Gray’s attorneys are likely to appeal, setting up a lengthy legal battle for Georgia’s higher courts to determine a balance between parental responsibility and criminal negligence.
Former U.S. Attorney Michael Moore said this verdict could radically change the way the state of Georgia handles criminal prosecution.
“I think that may have broader ramifications than people hearing this case were thinking about,” Moore said.
Moore said the law is headed in an uncertain direction without clear legislation written to dictate charging and sentencing guidelines. He made a comparison with a parent who buys an unruly 16-year-old a car, as an example.
“Will that parent now be responsible, criminally, for essentially putting a vehicle weapon into the hands of their child, should that child then kill somebody in a car?” Moore said. “Is the parent also to be responsible for vehicular homicide?”
Moore said he wouldn’t be surprised to see the Colin Gray case end up before the Georgia Supreme Court.
“This is sort of where the slope of the law is headed, when you basically say that somebody can be responsible for a third party’s conduct when they’re not part of some type of criminal scheme or conspiracy,” Moore said.
