The Trial of James Crumbley at the Oxford High Killings: What You Need to Know
Jury selection will begin Tuesday in the trial of James Crumbley, whose son killed four students and injured seven others at a Michigan high school in 2021 in the deadliest school shooting in state history.
Three days after the Oxford High School shooting, prosecutors took the rare step of filing involuntary manslaughter charges against Mr. Crumbley, 47, and his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, 45, marking one of the nation’s most high-profile attempts set up to retain parents. responsible for violent crimes committed by their children.
Ms Crumbley was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in a separate trial last month. She will be sentenced next month and faces up to 15 years in prison. The Crumbleys’ son pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree murder, and was sentenced in December to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Here’s what else you need to know about the case.
What happened at Oxford High
Officials called the Crumbleys to Oxford High School on the morning of Nov. 30, 2021, after a teacher saw a drawing of their son showing a gun and ammunition. The son, Ethan Crumbley, was then a 15-year-old sophomore at the suburban Detroit school.
“Blood everywhere,” he had written next to the drawings. “The thoughts don’t stop. Help me.”
The couple spoke with a counselor and decided their son could stay at school that day, Mrs. Crumbley testified at her trial. Neither his parents nor school officials searched his backpack, which contained a 9-millimeter Sig Sauer handgun.
Authorities said Ethan later fired 30 shots from the gun in a school hallway, killing Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17; and Hana St. Juliana, 14. Seven other people were injured.
According to testimony at his mother’s trial, the teenager had kept a diary in which he revealed his plans for the massacre. The magazine also contained pleas about his mental health. “My parents won’t listen to me when it comes to help or a therapist,” he wrote.
Why prosecutors charged the parents
Prosecutors charged the Crumbleys with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each student killed in the shooting. They argued that the parents were guilty for allowing their son access to a gun while ignoring warnings that he was on the verge of violence.
According to the records, Mr. Crumbley bought the gun his son used in the shooting, and Mrs. Crumbley accompanied her son to a shooting range for a few days before killing his classmates. Prosecutors say the gun was a Christmas present.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald said she believed the parents bore some responsibility for the shooting.
“The facts in this case are so egregious,” she said at a December 2021 news conference, pointing to what Ethan had written during class time before the shooting. She added: “The idea that any parent could read these words and also know that their son had access to a deadly weapon that they gave him is unconscionable and I think it is criminal.”
Lawyers for the Crumbleys have said the couple were “absolutely shocked parents who had no reason to foresee what would happen.”
A key issue in the trial of James Crumbley
Prosecutors will likely focus on the gun used in the killings in the upcoming trial. The teenager has said the gun was unlocked, and Mrs. Crumbley testified at her trial that her husband was more familiar with firearms and was responsible for putting the gun away.
At the time of the shooting, Michigan, unlike nearly 30 other states, did not require adults to keep guns in their homes, out of the reach of children. State legislators legislation passed last year Require firearms stored in the presence of minors to be unloaded and put away. The rules came into effect last month.
In a setback for Mr. Crumbley’s defense, the judge recently denied the father’s request to exclude his son’s journal entries and text messages from evidence.
The judge also ruled that one student who witnessed the shooting could testify. Mr. Crumbley’s attorney had argued that the trial was about parenting decisions that occurred before the shooting, and that testimony about the massacre itself would not be relevant.
Pursuing the shooter’s parents could have an impact
Several parents of children who have committed gun violence in recent years have been charged with reckless conduct or neglect.
But the involuntary manslaughter charges against the Crumbleys stand out, experts say, making their prosecution a key test case.
Ms. Crumbley’s conviction could have ramifications in other trials, said Ekow N. Yankah, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, after she was found guilty last month.
“We pay attention to spectacular cases,” he said, “and we don’t pay attention to how much they change the law in non-spectacular cases — how many settlements, how many people will spend more time in jail because they don’t. I want to risk a conviction like this.”
Reporting was contributed by Jack Healey, Campbell Robertson And Stephanie Saul.