Overview
- A Barrow County jury convicted Colin Gray in March on 27 counts including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children for supplying the rifle and failing to act on warning signs tied to the Sept. 4, 2024, Apalachee High School attack.
- Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced Gray to 15 years in late July after hearing prosecutors urge an 80-year term and the defense ask for a lighter sentence, with the judge saying Gray had failed as a parent but noting the difficulty of punishing negligence without intent.
- Gray’s attorneys filed a motion for a new trial on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, arguing the jury’s verdict was unsupported by the evidence and contrary to law and asking the trial court to reconsider the convictions within 30 days.
- Colin Gray has been transferred to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson and Department of Corrections records list a maximum possible release date of Sept. 5, 2039; his convictions and 15-year sentence remain in place while the court reviews the motion.
- Legal experts say the case is notable because parental criminal liability tied to school shootings is rare and that the outcome of this post-conviction challenge could influence future prosecutions, gun-storage practices, child-welfare responses and school-safety policy.