Full breakdown: Apalachee High shooter's father sentenced to 15 years

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Obviously, I want to start with our top story, and that is the sentencing of Colin Gray. He's the father of the Appalachee High School mass shooter. So right now, let me get you caught up on this case, because any minute now, they are expected to return from a lunch break for this sentencing hearing. And so we know that Colin bought the AR-15-style rifle for his son that Colt used in the 2024 shooting. Two students and two teachers were killed. A Barrow County jury convicted him of 27 charges earlier this year in Barrow County, including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Several family and friends of the victim spoke today, earlier this morning, during victim impact statements. We heard from Shauna Aspinwall, who is the wife of Coach Ricky Aspinwall, one of the teachers who died in the shooting. She says Ricky was the heart of her family, and he died doing what he loved. We also heard from Brianna Shermerhorn, the mother of Mason, who is a student who died in the shooting. She says Colin Gray chose to look away from his son's issues, and instead of protecting the community, he armed his son. I want you to take a listen to some of what was said this morning. [00:01:10] Speaker 2: Our daughters must grow up without their father. They will miss his guidance, his encouragement, his hugs, and all the milestones he should have been here to witness. Birthdays, graduations, weddings, and everyday moments that make up a lifetime will forever be marked by his absence. [00:01:26] Speaker 3: Whatever we hear today, it's because of him. His actions and his neglect are responsible for what happened here. Though he did not shoot the gun, he bought the bullets that enabled his son to kill. [00:01:44] Speaker 1: And obviously an incredibly heartbreaking situation for these families. They got some closure on Tuesday when Colt Gray found out that he'll be spending the rest of his life in prison. But in this situation, Colin Gray, the father of Colt Gray, is being charged. And this is a very novel case for Georgia. And I say novel because this is not something that happens every day. This is actually the first time in the state of Georgia that a father has been not only charged, but convicted of crimes that his child did. And so I want to bring in legal analyst and expert who joins us all the time, Joshua Schiffer. He's joining us this afternoon. Joshua, thanks so much for being here. [00:02:23] Joshua Schiffer: Thanks so much. And you're definitely hitting on one of those big kind of behind-the-scenes issues in the Colt Gray, Colin Gray prosecution, which is the Second Amendment. This conviction that we're going to about to see this sentencing for, it's, as you said, the first time in Georgia the original purchaser of a firearm is being held criminally responsible for the actions of what the eventual recipient of that firearm did. And in this case, it was the horrific murder of four and injury of multiple others by young Colt Gray. This is going to be something every prosecutor and defense attorney in Georgia is watching closely. [00:03:04] Speaker 1: And so they just came back from a lunch break. If you just hold on one second, we want to take it live and see if we can listen to what's going on. We're possibly could be getting the sentence for Colin. We'll listen for a few moments. If you could stick with us, Joshua. [00:03:15] Speaker 5: But his crimes are tethered to the tragedy committed by his son. And that makes the situation a little unique. You know, I'll point out the first 39 witnesses of Mr. Gray's trial did not mention Colin Gray. They did not testify about anything that Colin Gray did. It was the tragedy that he's tethered to from Colt. Now, again, Mr. Gray committed crimes and he was convicted because of his failure to act and intervene. I want to talk for a second about just some principles in American justice. The highest level of criminal responsibility or culpability is for someone who willfully, knowingly, intentionally commits a crime. The lowest level of criminal culpability in our system is criminal negligence. You didn't intend to commit a crime, but you ignored foreseeable harm. You failed to act in a certain way. You failed to intervene. And there's an easy example. Take a premeditated murder. When someone plans a murder, they want to kill someone, and they follow through on that plan, and they shoot them with a gun and kill them. And then in the other situation, someone's playing around with a loaded gun, recklessly, negligently, and they accidentally shoot and kill someone. Those crimes aren't punished the same. Those crimes aren't punished the same. One is intentional. One is negligent. I want to point out that every one of the 27 charges that Colin Gray was convicted of are criminal negligence. Every one of them. Punishing criminal negligence is not easy, in part because they didn't intend to commit a crime. The punishment generally comes from the foreseeability of the harm and from the damage that results. It is clear you failed as a parent you did not provide a stable household. You did not have things in check with Marcy's issues and what the kids were being exposed to. You did not have Colt in activities that a boy should be in where he's making connections with other children, in person, where he feels loved, where he feels accepted. You didn't monitor what was going on with him in the computer. You didn't have him in school. He was in your care his entire eighth grade year. And he didn't go to school. And what did he do each of those days he should have been in school? He watched and re-watched the school shooting trial of Nicholas Cruz. He fell deeper and deeper into this obsession. And he should have been in school every day. And that was a failure on your part. He didn't get any mental health counseling. And it was obvious he needed some. None of those failures helped your case. But those aren't why you were convicted. You were convicted because the warning lights were flashing brighter and brighter. And you didn't get him help. And you didn't remove his access to the guns. I recognize that no parent believes that their child is capable of committing a heinous crime. No parent thinks that their child is going to be the next school shooter. But it became more and more obvious that something bad was going to happen. At a minimum, you should have believed that Colt would commit suicide. And you failed to do the simplest things to prevent this. You had gun locks. And you didn't use them. You could have got a hundred-something dollar safe and put the guns in the safe. If you had done that, you wouldn't be here today. You could have removed the ammo in the magazines from the house. And if you'd done that, you wouldn't be here today. You could have let someone else hold the guns while you got Colt help. If you'd done that, you wouldn't be here today. If you had done any of those things, Ms. Jeremy, Mr. Aspinwall, Mason, Christian, would be here today. And your negligence didn't arise in an instant. It was repeated day after day. The entire first month of school was an opportunity to remove the guns to get Colt help. And you failed. Again, sentencing for negligence is very difficult because there's not an intention to commit a crime. None of the crimes that you're convicted of require mandatory prison. And as I mentioned, the weight of your crimes is tethered and told, tethered and tied to the acts of someone else, your son. Two scenarios. You fail the same way in both. You fail to get Colt counseling. You fail to remove the guns from the house. In the one scenario, Colt changes his mind. Doesn't go through with it. You're not charged with any crime at all. You're very same failures. Colt goes through with it as he did. Commits the atrocity. And the state's asking for 80 years confinement for you. But your actions are identical in each of those scenarios. My heart aches for everyone that was there that day. For all of you that have been impacted by it. But the law requires that I set aside a motion. 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. On September 4th, 2024, lives and families were forever altered. You are the but for you failing to get Colt help. But for your failure to remove access to the guns. This doesn't happen. September 4th would have been a normal day. Mr. Aspinwall, Ms. Erami, Mason, Christian, Mr. Phoenix, Natalie, Melanie, Taylor, Jackson. They all would have gone home as normal to have dinner with their loved ones. It's the but for that the community has such outrage for you. But it matters that you didn't have actual knowledge that Colt was going to school to do that. It matters that you didn't intentionally commit a crime. It matters that you didn't plan 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 and 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 Apalachee 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 manslaughters, 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 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 so that you can comply with those 30-day deadlines. If your motion for new trial is denied, you'd have a right to a court-appointed counsel and can file an appeal from that within 30 days of that denial. This only closes the legal chapter of this horror. The pain, the heartache, they continue. I understand that. I hope all of you know that this community loves you, and I ask that God gives you peace. Thank you. We're adjourned. [00:14:54] Speaker 1: That's here on Fox 5 News Live at 1 o'clock as Colin Gray was just sentenced. According to the judge, he'll be spending the next 15 years of his life in prison. Obviously, he spent some time behind bars since the shooting back in September 2024. A couple things stuck out to me here. Obviously, the judge was saying, Judge Nicholas Prim, chief judge for Barrow County, had mentioned that the 27 counts that Colin Gray was found guilty of as criminal negligence, so he didn't commit the crime himself, I guess is an easy way of phrasing it. They told him that he failed as a parent and that essentially he didn't have to sentence him. There was no minimum to sentence him behind bars, but he still chose to actually do this. What struck you as listening to this play out live? What struck you about what you heard? [00:15:45] Joshua Schiffer: The very balanced approach and how Judge Prim was so specific in setting out what his considerations were in much regards for the public's use and knowledge, because you highlight the intent issue, which is something that a lot of people don't think about when it comes to criminal law, and especially sentencing. In fact, Georgia has the felony murder rule, which is a mandatory life sentence, regardless of intent to commit a death. Judge Prim was very careful in choosing his words, highlighting that Mr. Gray had no priors. Mr. Gray's convictions were all related to these non-intent crimes. There was no mens rea, is the Latin phrase that the lawyers are going to talk to you about, but it means, did you intend to do something that caused this? You know, it's pretty easy to say, I wanted to kill that guy. I wanted to steal that thing. I wanted to sell that drug or steal that money. None of that was present in the crimes that Mr. Gray was convicted of. Mr. Gray's convictions were related to his failure to act, his inability to tell the future as to what his son was going to do, and the judge clearly put a lot of weight on that when determining the sentence. I think that this is a generous sentence, in my opinion, and I believe we're going to hear a lot of commentary, especially from the families in the community, about how this was not a strong enough message. But again, that's going to be up for the community to deal with over the next couple of years, as Mr. Gray serves this sentence, of which I expect him to serve probably 80% or more of before there's a potential release. [00:17:33] Speaker 1: So, obviously, there's a big factor here. Obviously, we know in the situation, this is the first time ever that a Georgia parent has been not only charged, but convicted and now sentenced, of basically doing something that their child did. Do we expect an appeals process here? And do we, I mean, did that play a role, I guess, in the fact that the judge may have not done a harsher sentence, that this is going to be the first time that Georgia's ever stepped into this territory? [00:18:02] Joshua Schiffer: A judge is definitely aware of the novelty. And since it's got the novelty attached and due to the prominence of the lawyers and the skills, the lawyers involved, the importance of this issue, I would expect some sort of perfunctory appeal, even though this was a plea, or sorry, even though this was a sentencing out of the trial. Of course, the trial itself, there's multiple appeals that are going through with that. That's part of this process. So we'll have to sit back and see how the Georgia Court of Appeals, and more importantly, the Georgia Supreme Court considers this novel conviction of not doing something creating criminal liability, not doing something whether it was predictable or not. How far removed are the actions of the conviction here, Mr. Gray the dad versus the son? Because obviously, situations change, and you can do something on day one that results in something completely different when someone else is handling the ultra-hazardous instrumentality on day 20 or 50. Traditionally, Georgia has not extended criminal liability to the providers. But we've also seen this in some drug cases with extending liability. Now there are commonly prosecutions for the dealers of drugs, not who didn't intend to kill anybody, but definitely provided the ultra-hazardous instrumentality that led to someone's death. And it's that same logic here. Without Mr. Colin Gray's, you know, participation in providing the firearm, none of this ever would have happened. We also need to take into account how the Second Amendment fits in. The Second Amendment community is very vocal, very concerned. Anytime some sort of criminal liability can be attached to firearms ownership and management, this conviction sends a clear message to basically every gun owner in Georgia, that depending on how you store your guns and what the situation is at home or where it's stored, you could be convicted for crimes committed with your firearm, even though you didn't intend or participate in the crime in any way. [00:20:13] Speaker 1: So, and the phrasing of this, obviously, is not going to be the greatest, but there's no easier way to say this than a simpler way to say this. Obviously, the big target here, Colt Gray, he was the one who committed this mass murder at Apalachee High School back in September of 2024. But is this a major win for Brad Smith over at the Barrow County District Attorney's Office to be able to even get the conviction they got in March and now a 15-year prison sentence for Colin Gray? [00:20:43] Joshua Schiffer: Absolutely. This is a tremendously successful result for Brad Smith. He has absolutely fulfilled his duty to the people in that circuit. And I expect every prosecutor in the nation to kind of celebrate this type of conviction, because we've heard for so long that it's the availability of these firearms, it's the people that are acquiring them, and then not being responsible, which leads to firearms falling into the hands of people who are known criminals or are likely to do something illegal. So this is a big step forward when it comes to state criminal control over firearms issues, as much as that raises the concern of when is the government going to go too far in regulating the personal use and ownership and possession of firearms, something that a very vocal group of people across the nation are concerned with. Remember, earlier in this case, there were inquiries made about young Colt Gray by law enforcement, which leads you to question, well, what if they had asked for the firearms or tried to forfeit or possess the firearms, get information about those firearms, which at that point were lawfully in Colin Gray's house? That would cause a lot of civil rights concerns, civic justice concerns, really big fundamental issues firearms owners are concerned with. [00:22:06] Speaker 1: Well, and so I want to talk about something that kind of caught my attention during the sentencing, and I'm going through my notes here. The quote that Judge Nicholas Prim uttered during this was, My heart aches for everyone who was there that day, but he can't. He basically has to set aside a motion here when he did this sentence, knowing the fact that essentially Colin Gray could have got up to 180 years in prison, and he just got 15 because the judge decided to run a lot of these and run these concurrently with each other. Is this a harsh sentence, or essentially is this a slap on the wrist? [00:22:43] Joshua Schiffer: I'm viewing this as a very lenient sentence considering, as the judge talked about, the immense damage. But the judge has to be respected and has the discretion, being a duly elected judge, you know, we trust his judgment. That's how democracy works, in really evaluating Colin Gray's behavior and how it impacted Colt Gray's crime. While we can all sit back and say it was all ridiculous for someone to provide a firearm. Mr. Gray had no priors. The justice system is specifically set up to treat individual cases individually, to take each defendant as you find them. So the judge was not really logically or legally able to make some of the conviction, to make some of the connections that we all see from the outside when it would come to sentence determination. I don't think the judge made any friends across the spectrum with a 15-year sentence, because some people are going to decry that was far too light, that absent his failure to act, none of this would have happened, and that he is basically the proximate pathway nexus connection that allowed Colt Gray to commit this crime. But at the exact same time, there's a group of people. [00:24:02] Speaker 1: Joshua, sorry to interrupt you. I see Brad Smith, the chief district attorney up in Barrow County, along with Judd Smith, the sheriff. Let's listen in to this news conference that's about to get underway. Questions about today's proceedings? [00:24:15] Speaker 6: Family members, they said they wanted more. They were crying. I don't know if you could see, but what do you have to say to them? [00:24:23] Speaker 7: We're going to go down and talk to them. They're in our office now. We're going to, as soon as I finish here, I'm going to go down and talk to them, and I'll keep that between us and them. [00:24:31] Speaker 6: Explain what the judge meant about negligence and not requiring any prison. [00:24:38] Speaker 7: The charges, some charges in Georgia require what's called a mandatory minimum. None of these charges carried that, and that's what he was referring to. [00:24:49] Speaker 8: Are you satisfied with this sentencing? I understand what the families were saying, but how do you feel about it? You're asking for 80 years. [00:24:57] Speaker 7: 80 years is what I thought would be appropriate for this case, which is why I asked for it. In my line of work, my job and my lane is to present all of the evidence as best I can, and I believe we did that in this case, and at that point it's turned over to other people to make a decision like that, and I was accepting what their decisions are. [00:25:16] Speaker 9: The judge mentioned this is a precedent-setting case. What precedent do you hope this sentencing in this case will take for future? [00:25:25] Speaker 7: That people need to understand that this is a phenomenon going through our society and do not take these things lightly. I own guns. I'm not against people owning guns. I own them myself. But when you see someone in distress, please take away their access to guns. These kids are not in a position where they are able to make rational decisions when it comes to things like firearms. And we need as a society to step up and realize who should and who should not have access to them. [00:26:03] Speaker 8: Kids return to Appalachian Heights tomorrow. What do you hope all of this happening hours before they're set to go back? That's for these children as they're still human and teachers in this entire community. [00:26:16] Speaker 7: I'm sad that it had to happen right before they went back, but I'm glad it is over before they go back. The timing's not ideal, but it's at least better than doing it during the school year. [00:26:28] Speaker 8: Do you think it will help with the healing? [00:26:30] Speaker 7: I would hope so. [00:26:33] Speaker 10: What kind of precedent is that setting? What kind of precedent is that setting for future cases? [00:26:41] Speaker 7: What kind of precedent is that people need to understand that you have a duty to not ignore these risks, and if you do, then you're eligible to be prosecuted. [00:26:51] Speaker 10: That other family, Michigan, I guess, what was their sentence? Do you know? [00:26:55] Speaker 7: I believe their sentence was 15 years. However, that in their laws, that was the maximum that they were able to get. [00:27:04] Speaker 11: I'm very proud of our DA and his team and the master class that they did with the prosecution of the father and the shooter this week. My main words are let's heal. [00:27:28] Speaker 10: You know, 80 years versus 15, there's a big difference there, but is 15 enough, do you think, to send a message to other parents to be more mindful? [00:27:38] Speaker 7: I don't think the sentence is what it would take to send the message. I think the charging was what sent the message, and that's what our job was. So we found the laws, we found the facts, and we went forward with that. [00:27:52] Speaker 12: The judge pointed out there's, you know, there's a version of events here where Colt decides against taking the gun to school at the last minute for whatever reason. There was something that might have changed his mind. And that that decision was not up to Colin, that that was something that was out of his control. Why does the father of Colt deserve to be punished for something that his son did when he ultimately did not make that decision? [00:28:23] Speaker 7: Colt Craig was 14 years old and had no access to firearms except the one his father gave him, knowing that he was already a threat to schools. [00:28:32] Speaker 13: I know the legal process, as you said, or the judge said, it's all done now. But do you have any other messages for the community moving forward? [00:28:40] Speaker 7: For our community in Barrow County. If you need help, if you need some sort of counseling or just a loving hand, please reach out. We're here. That's what the beauty of Barrow County is we are here for each other. Take advantage of that. [00:28:58] Speaker 8: We always, whenever you're starting charging a case, you're looking at where [00:29:10] Speaker 7: are there issues that could be appealed. So we're ready for that. We feel like our charges were adequate and professional and the correct ones to do. And so we're confident we'll be fine in the appeal situation. [00:29:22] Speaker 8: Do you feel the gravity of the moment in the sense of, obviously, the way that you pulled it, but in the sense of legally that this is such a landmark case, we will see others that are going to look to what happened here sort of leading the way, unfortunately, because of other school shootings and particularly the parents. Do you feel the gravity of this moment that this is so unprecedented? I know it even from these parents, but they fixed manslaughter. This is the first murder. [00:29:49] Speaker 7: I think from the moment this happened, we've been crushed by the gravity of it. We've carried it every day. Thank you again for y'all's professionalism. I appreciate everything. Thank you all. Thank you. [00:30:05] Speaker 8: Thank you for your time. [00:30:10] Speaker 1: So, Joshua, we've just been listening to D.A. Brad Smith and Sheriff Judge Smith up in Barrow County. I just have one more question for you. I mean, obviously, we heard the judge talk about it. We heard D.A. Brad Smith talk about it. Essentially, the way I understand, because of the lack of action by Colin Gray, he ended up in this position being convicted and then sentenced to 15 years to serve behind bars. Was this essentially because of his not only inaction, but also the stupidity of not acting, and then also having a gun, giving him a gun, and allowing him to keep it in his room, essentially the reason he is going to be spending at least a decade behind bars, basically? [00:30:53] Joshua Schiffer: You're definitely right. And that's why D.A. Smith was so clear that it was the charging decision that sent the message, because in so many prior issues, these charges would be unheard of. It could be clear that the person committing the crime only committed the crime with a firearm because they picked it up at home. They'd stolen it from their parent or sibling or found it some other way. The availability of the firearm is that functional connection that the focus is on. And that's why I believe the judge, first of all, departed downward, because it was limited in the action. Certainly no intent of Colin Gray, thereby justifying the 15 years. But really, the ability of the D.A. to do justice is limited, and they get to choose how to charge this case. By bringing these charges, that's the message to everyone in Georgia who owns firearms, that you're not going to be given a free pass like you may have been previously. [00:31:56] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot to dissect here. I assume we're going to have some sort of appeal process here, being that this is the first time that we have seen something like this in our state, where a father is going to be facing prison time for something his teenage son did. [00:32:12] Joshua Schiffer: Absolutely. And there's a mandatory appeal that will happen anytime there's going to be a trial conviction of charges of this nature. And as you heard the judge said, that doesn't include the habeas, but the actual criminal trial, all the procedures, all the rulings will be appealed by Mr. Gray's team, just as it would with any other major case. And the Court of Appeals will have an opportunity to review not just the actions during the trial, but also this sentencing issue. And there may be specific collateral attacks that the defense can bring regarding comparing this to other sentences, dealing with the novelty. For all we know, there may be some laws or some conversation from our legislation and state history that is relevant to this particular case. We just don't know that we'll have to see it in the future. But I believe it was clear from D.A. Smith and the sheriff that they were a little disappointed that the judge didn't use more harsh sanctions and sentencing, having asked for 80 years, which would have certainly ensured Mr. Gray pass away in prison and never see freedom again. Whereas this, at the age of 55, 15 years, he does 80%. He's got a substantial horizon out there in the future. [00:33:27] Speaker 1: A little under two years after this incident at Apalachee High School, September of 2024, we now know the sentences for both Colin Gray, life in prison without parole. We learned that on Tuesday. Today, we learned Colin Gray will be spending 15 years behind bars. Obviously, he's going to get some time served credit here, but he's going to be at least spending probably roughly at least a decade longer in prison. He'll get out roughly at 65 years old. Joshua Schiffer, thank you so much for your expertise and joining us to break down what we just saw that played out live here on Fox 5 News Live at one o'clock. I really do appreciate it, Josh. It's always an honor. Thank you.