Mich. jury to decide if shooter’s mother bears responsibility
Son appeals life sentence after killing 4 students
Frequently left home alone, Ethan Crumbley texted his mother in March 2021 that he had seen a demon in their house, one that hurled dishes across the kitchen. Days later, his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, discussed how their teenage son was “worked up and agitated,” weighing whether to give him Xanax.
The next November, James Crumbley, ignoring what seemed like warning signs that Ethan had mental health issues, bought his son a semiautomatic handgun.
Ethan, then 15, used the gun to kill four students at Oxford
High School, the worst school shooting in Michigan history.
On Tuesday, jury selection began in the trial of Jennifer Crumbley, 45, charged with involuntary manslaughter for the deaths — new territory when it comes to prosecuting school shootings. James Crumbley, 47, faces a separate trial, scheduled for March, also on involuntary manslaughter charges related to the killings.
As jury selection was getting underway, lawyers for Jennifer Crumbley and her son sparred over whether he should testify at her trial. The attorneys for Ethan, now 17, emailed a letter stating that they had advised him to not waive his privilege or confidentiality for the trial. That means his testimony and “confidential communication,” like conversations with his psychiatrists, would be prohibited.
Jennifer Crumbley’s lawyers then asked the judge to order her son and three doctors whom he spoke with to testify in the trial, according to a court filing Tuesday.
Although adults have been prosecuted before when children commit violent crimes, the Oxford High School case goes a step further by trying to hold parents criminally liable for an intentional mass shooting. The Oakland County prosecutor, Karen D. McDonald, has said that the Crumbleys are culpable because they allowed their son access to a handgun while ignoring warnings that he was troubled.
Both parents have pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers have said that they had no inkling that Ethan was capable of such violence. Ethan is appealing his life sentence without parole.
“One of the bedrock principles in American criminal law is that you’re not responsible for somebody else’s actions,” said Ekow N. Yankah, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. But Yankah said the Crumbleys provided a perfect case to test that principle, pointing to what he called a “damning” set of facts against the couple.
“It’s hard to think of a set of facts that are more inviting for prosecution,” he said.
Extensive testimony and court documents have portrayed the couple as neglectful parents. They drank heavily, fought loudly in front of Ethan, and frequently left him at home alone, despite his shaky mental health.
After James Crumbley purchased the gun, his wife took Ethan to the shooting range.
When a teacher reported seeing Ethan searching online for ammunition, his mother did not seem alarmed.