Colin Gray, father of Apalachee School shooter Colt Gray, has been sentenced to 15 years for providing the rifle used in the 2024 murders.
Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm heard testimony from family members of the four slain victims, Richard Aspinwall, Cristina Irimie, Mason Schermerhorn, and Christian Angulo, as well as survivors of the shooting.
Shayna Aspinwall, Richard’s wife, said her daughters have struggled to comprehend the loss of their father.
“My now 7-year-old, who is a daddy’s girl, spends time going to therapy because she struggled with the grief of losing her dad,” Aspinwall said. “Colin could not take his son to therapy. Therefore, I have to take mine.”
Colin Gray did not speak from the stand under advice of his legal counsel.
In the defense’s argument, attorney Brian Hobbs pointed to evidence admitted in Colt Gray’s trial, saying Colt concealed his intentions and activity in the True Crime Community from his father.
Hobbs instead pointed to mother Marcee Gray’s role in egging on Colt’s involvement in the True Crime Community.
Jail calls presented in Colt Gray’s trial show she spoke with Colt dozens of times about his online infamy following the shooting.
Prosecutors said she violated a non-contact order and their conversations were “inappropriate”.
Hobbs ultimately asked for an effective sentence of 20 years, to serve 10 years in custody.
District Attorney Brad Smith disagreed with Hobb’s argument, pointing at a recreation of the collage that Colt Gray made of Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz.
“This was the risk that he was ignoring, that there would be a mass shooting of children at a school, and he gave his son the exact tool he would need to accomplish this.”
Smith ultimately requested that Colin Gray be sentenced to 80 years.
Any appeal Gray might file will go straight to the Georgia Supreme Court, as the state constitution requires all appeals in murder convictions go straight to the state’s highest court.