Colin Gray: No Gun Laws Broken — So How Is This Murder?
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2026
⏱️ 15 minutes
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Summary
Georgia has no safe storage law. A 14-year-old can legally possess a long gun. Colin Gray didn't technically break any gun laws by giving his son an AR-15 for Christmas. So how is he now facing 180 years on second-degree murder charges?
Criminal defense attorney Bob Motta breaks down the legal strategy prosecutors are using against Colin Gray—and whether it can survive scrutiny.
The facts are bad. The FBI visited Colin Gray's home in May 2023 after his son made threats on Discord. Body cam footage shows Gray telling deputies "God, I knew it" within minutes of the Apalachee High School shooting. He also said he'd been trying to get his son into counseling. Bob analyzes how those statements play with a jury—and whether they're admission of knowledge or a father's horror.
The Crumbleys set a precedent in Michigan with manslaughter convictions—10 to 15 years each. Georgia went further with second-degree murder. Colin Gray faces 180 years. That gap shows how Georgia views this case—and what it could mean for parents nationwide.
Karen McDonald—the prosecutor who got the Crumbley convictions—said her reaction to Colin Gray being charged was "rage." She said the Crumbley case was never meant to open the floodgates. Legal experts warn this precedent could be applied unevenly, potentially disproportionately against families without resources. Bob addresses whether there's any limiting principle.
The kid's history is chaotic: DFCS involvement, school-hopping, swastikas, searched "how to kill your dad" on a school computer, missed his entire eighth-grade year. Does all that make the father look negligent—or create reasonable doubt he could have predicted this?
Bob breaks down whether we're watching the rules change in real time.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brewski. Here now, Tony Brucey. |
| 0:06.1 | Let's talk about Colin Gray. This is another case that's going on. I know you guys are covering it over on defense diaries as well, and you've been covering it since the beginning. Colin Gray is in Georgia right now. It's not just another murder case. It's a legal |
| 0:22.4 | stress test. Prosecutors are charging the father of the Appalachia High School shooter with second |
| 0:27.7 | degree murder, not just manslaughter, pushing beyond the already unprecedented crumbly convictions. |
| 0:34.9 | The crumbly set the precedent. Colin Gray's case is determining how far |
| 0:38.9 | that precedent actually stretches into second-degree murder, not just manslaughter, with testimony |
| 0:45.1 | revealing an FBI warning, a Christmas gift AR-15, and a father who said, God, I knew it, |
| 0:51.3 | within minutes of the shooting. This case could reshape how American courts treat parental culpability for years to come. |
| 1:00.8 | Bob Mata is with us, host of the podcast Defense Diaries. |
| 1:05.0 | Bob the Crumbly's got manslaughter. |
| 1:07.2 | George is going for second-degree murder here against Colin Gray. |
| 1:10.8 | It's a big jump. What is going for second-degree murder here against Colin Gray. It's a big jump. |
| 1:12.6 | What is the prosecution saying with that move? |
| 1:15.9 | And how much harder does it make their job here? |
| 1:19.5 | It's a it's a tough road to hoe, man. |
| 1:22.4 | Like, I mean, it's a challenge because ultimately what they're going to have to do, and the way that it works in Georgia is that they have this attachment of this predicate charge of cruelty to children. |
| 1:39.6 | And that cruelty to children, if it results in death, allows them to go forward on this second-degree murder. |
| 1:47.4 | So, and again, he didn't have a hand in it, right? |
| 1:50.7 | That's what makes this case so challenging. |
| 1:52.9 | It's was his, was this foreseeable? |
| 1:55.8 | Now, if you were to read the statute, the word foreseeable is not in it, but when you look at the jury instructions |
| 2:03.5 | and you have an understanding of how they get to where they need to get to get a conviction of |
... |
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