Michigan prosecutors are once again testing the boundaries of criminal liability for parents, this time with a murder prosecution that raises difficult questions about parental rights, neglect, and when a parent’s conduct becomes homicide.

Prosecutors in Genesee County have charged two parents with second-degree murder after their seven-year-old child died from an enlarged and weakened heart brought on by morbid obesity.

The child reportedly weighed 255 pounds at the time of death, and prosecutors have alleged that the parents only provided the child snack foods and did not give him adequate medical care.

“This was a sad and horrific case involving the wanton and willful neglect by two parents for the care, welfare and medical needs of their son,” Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said in a statement. “Their neglect led to their child suffering severe bed sores, various rashes and other physical health disorders.”

A doctor last saw the boy in February of 2024, when he was diagnosed with a metabolic disease and weighed in at 104 pounds, meaning that he gained roughly 150 pounds in the span of two years.

Both parents have retained a defense attorney, with the father’s attorney asserting his innocence, but refraining from additional commentary.

“As in all criminal matters, Mr. O’Brien is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” Mr. O’Brien’s defense attorney said.

The case has some parallels with a tragic school shooting in Oxford, Michigan in 2021 that left four dead and seven injured.

In the Oxford shooting case, the parents of the shooter were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for ignoring warning signs prior to the shooting, and failing to secure the weapon used.

Like the Oxford school shooting prosecutions before it, the case is likely to test the limits of when Michigan law permits parents to be held criminally responsible for a child’s death.

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