Details on Colin Gray's 15-year sentence for son's Appalache High School shooting

[00:00:00] Lindsay Reiser: Hi, I'm Lindsay Reiser. We have breaking news out of Georgia, where this afternoon a judge sentenced the father of the September 2024 Appalachee High School shooter to 15 years in prison. Colin Gray was convicted of second-degree murder for giving his son, Colt Gray, the gun he used in the shooting that left four people dead. His son, Colt Gray, was sentenced this week to life without the possibility of parole after changing his plea to guilty. This is the moment [00:00:28] Speaker 2: when the sentencing was announced. In an attack, it matters that you didn't seek to harm anyone. It matters that you didn't pull a trigger. As I indicated, all of your crimes are a form of criminal negligence. None of them require mandatory prison. I don't have a concern that you're going to commit future crimes. You're 55 years old. You have no criminal history. You didn't intend to commit these crimes that you've been convicted of. But the loss here is profound. But I still have to distinguish your acts from the malignant heart and the acts that Colt Gray committed upon the Appalachee School. For each of the murders in the second degree, I'm sentencing you to 15 years in confinement, concurrent with one another. For each of the involuntary manslaughter, I'm sentencing you to 10 years confinement, concurrent. For each non-merging cruelty to children, I'm sentencing you to 10 years in confinement, concurrent. For each non-merging reckless conduct charge, I'm sentencing you to 12 months confinement, concurrent. This is an aggregate sentence of 15 years in prison. I'm going to have the sentence filed presently. I want to advise you, I'm required to advise you that you have certain post-conviction appellate rights. You have the right to a court-appointed attorney if you need one to file a direct appeal or a motion for new trial. Those have to be filed within 30 days of today's date. You have a right to file a petition for habeas corpus to challenge any violation of your constitutional rights or any legal errors that you have. You have the right to file a petition for habeas corpus to challenge any violation of your constitutional rights or any legal errors that you have the right to file a petition for You have the right to file a petition for habeas corpus to challenge any violation of your constitutional rights or any legal errors that has to be filed within four years of today's date. You have no right to a court-appointed attorney for a habeas corpus petition as it's a civil proceeding. I'll ask defense counsel to file a placeholder motion for you. If you need court-appointed counsel, make sure you apply. [00:02:32] Lindsay Reiser: All right, let's go to cbs news like a contributor rebecca roife. Rebecca, can you speak to what we heard the judge's rationale behind this 15-year sentence? [00:02:42] Rebecca Roife: Yes, thanks, lindsay. So it sounds like the judge is really drawing a distinction between those intentional crimes that his son committed and the criminal negligence that the father was convicted for. So while still sending a message that this is a significant crime that's going to carry significant consequences, he isn't willing to give what would have amounted to a de facto life sentence to the father for his acts. [00:03:08] Lindsay Reiser: Colin Gray is the third parent nationwide, the first in Georgia to be prosecuted for a mass school shooting committed by their child. What does this tell you about the push to hold parents accountable? [00:03:20] Rebecca Roife: I think prosecutors' offices and judges are sending a message to parents that they cannot and should not avoid these sorts of warning signs because essentially that is what this father did, which was to provide guns and ammunition to a child who is in clear distress, that when your child demonstrates or has any of these severe signs, that parents have to do something, take care of it, and at the very least, at the very least, they cannot give them dangerous weapons when they're in a state like this. [00:03:56] Lindsay Reiser: What more do we know about what his rights are to an appeal? [00:03:58] Rebecca Roife: Well, everybody has a right to an appeal. He will appeal the legal theories in this case. There may be some kinds of evidentiary questions that he can appeal under these circumstances. He will certainly pursue those. I'm sure his lawyers will on his behalf. [00:04:14] Lindsay Reiser: We see right now video of him testifying on his own behalf. I mean, in terms of the facts of the case, Rebecca, what were some of the most egregious red flags that were missed? Because his son, Colt Gray, was sending pretty aggressive text messages to him. I believe it was the month before he carried out the shooting. And Colin Gray was still buying him accessories, buying him a tactical vest, claimed that they had gone on hunting trips together. But there was no digital evidence of that. So what were some of the most egregious points throughout this trial that the jury was convinced that this was criminally—he was criminally culpable? this was criminally—he was criminally culpable? Right. I mean, I think it's, as you say, these [00:04:59] Rebecca Roife: text messages, these emails to his father that are clearly showing signs of aggression, anger, violence, the father ignoring these, and meanwhile, giving him the means to commit this crime. And so, you know, again, the judge drawing this distinction, the father did not intend these murders. But when you put together providing these weapons in the course of while you're listening to your son, you know, display such severe forms of aggression and violent tendencies, that is criminally culpable behavior under the law. And I think, you know, especially with these victim impact statements that were given at the sentencing, the judge, you know, he paused for a moment. He looked at the defendant and he said the grave harm that is done here. And I think that that is something that we're seeing nationally is this sense that the resulting harm is so great that these are children and that we are putting parents on notice that they need to, you know, attend to these kinds of warning signs in a much more effective way than, you know, some of these parents have in the past. [00:06:09] Lindsay Reiser: Rebecca Roifey, thank you.