Episode Details

On the Friday September 13th edition of Georgia Today: The killing of four people at Apalachee High School last week raises legal questions about parential responsibility; A judge dismisses four counts in the election interference case against Donald Trump; And the Georgia State election board faces more challenges.

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB News. Today is Friday, September 13th. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, the killing of four people at Apalachee High School last week raises legal questions about parental responsibility. A judge dismisses three counts in the election interference case against Donald Trump and others. And the Georgia State Election Board faces more challenges. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

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Peter Biello: More details are emerging about last week's killing of two students and two teachers at Appalachee High School. Investigators said yesterday the alleged gunman, 14-year-old Colt Gray, carried a semiautomatic assault rifle to school hidden in his backpack. He's been charged as an adult with four counts of murder. Authorities also have charged his father, Cullen Gray, with murder and other crimes based on gross negligence. It's only the second time in the U.S. that such charges have been made against a parent. The first time was in Michigan, where a school shooter's parent was sentenced to ten years in prison earlier this year. The case has raised legal questions about parental responsibility, gun laws and other issues. To help us sort them out. We called Emory University School of Law professor John Acevedo. He spoke with GPB's Orlando Montoya.

Orlando Montoya: It's a well-established principle that sons are not responsible for the sins of their father. How is the father in this case responsible, allegedly for the sins of the son?

John Acevedo: Yeah, that's quite an interesting point to raise. We generally don't like liability, tort liability or especially criminal liability for the actions of the others. I think what makes these cases stand out a bit is that both in Michigan and here in Georgia, the parents actually gave the guns to the eventual shooter.

Orlando Montoya: Is there a law against that?

John Acevedo: So it's interesting. And I think this is what really makes it a fascinating case. There really is no law we can point to that the parent broke. Georgia does not have a secure firearms law. The second also allows you to give guns to persons of almost any age. But there's been a long-standing rule in criminal law that you cannot aid and abet a crime. And now the issue becomes how much knowledge does a parent need to have had that the child might do something like the school shooting to be criminally liable. And that's going to be very fascinating to see. The grand jury may not hold those charges. You know, find them true bill, as the phrase goes, that is that they should go forward. And, of course, a 12-person jury may not convict this father. So it's very fascinating as we go forward to see if folks have the stomach to hold parents liable.

Orlando Montoya: You said there's no law that the parents broke. So what law is the father actually charged with?

John Acevedo: So it's interesting to clarify. What I meant was we don't have a law that says it's illegal to give a minor a gun or it's illegal to not secure your guns so that a minor individual can get hold of them. But we do have a law in Georgia on the books that says if you act in a negligent manner, you can be charged with the deaths that occur from that. So I think the best analogy for your listeners is imagine if a parent gave a minor child, a 14 year old alcohol and the keys to the car and the chil