James was unable to contain his emotion as a Michigan judge ordered him and his estranged wife to spend 10-15 years behind bars on Tuesday.
Fifteen years was the maximum sentence available to the pair, who will each have two years subtracted from their sentences for time served.
The parents were convicted at separate trials in February as juries found they ignored their son's pleas for mental health help while buying him the firearm he used to massacre four classmates in 2021.
Their sentences will be served minus the near-two-and-a-half years they have already served, and they will be barred from contacting to their son's victim's families.
The sentence was read shortly after the heartbroken mother of one of Ethan Crumbley's victims slammed his parents for a lack of remorse, as she pleaded with a judge to impose the maximum sentence of 15 years, which they ultimately received. Speaking at the sentencing hearing, Nicole Beausoliel, the mother of slain Madisyn Baldwin, 17, scathed the couple as 'failed parents.'
'You've shown no remorse or respect to our family,' the stricken mother said through tears. 'The words involuntary should not be a part of your sentence.'
Her tearful statement was followed by the mother of Justin Shilling, who echoed Beausoliel's grief as she condemned them for not 'cherishing or even wanting your son.'
'But I cherished and wanted mine,' she added. 'You failed your son.'