Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, testified for several hours this week in her son’s criminal trial related to the 2021 shooting.
Jennifer Crumbley and her husband, James Crumbley, are being tried separately, but Ethan Crumbley is accused of killing four students: Tate Myre, 16, Justin Schilling, 16, Hannah St. Juliana, 14, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17 — Nov. 30, 2021, at Oxford High School.
“As a parent, you spend your life protecting your child from other dangers,” Jennifer Crumbley said on the witness stand Thursday, answering questions from the defense. “You would never think you have to protect your child from harming someone else. That’s what struck me. What I had to endure the most was protecting myself A child has harmed and killed another person.”
She did not call herself a victim, saying the real victims in this case were the families of the dead, but added that they had lost “a lot” as a result of the shooting and her son’s actions. Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
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Michigan school shooter mother Jennifer Crumbley accused the boy of not calling for help before the 2021 shooting that killed four people, including his father, James Crumbley, on Thursday. He took the stand at his manslaughter trial after the jury heard he blamed the man for his crimes. student. (Mandy Wright/Detroit Free Press, via AP, Pool)
“Of course, after all this happened, I looked back and asked myself if I would have done anything differently. I wouldn’t have done it,” Jennifer said.
“I wish he had killed us instead.”
Jennifer and her husband are accused of illegally purchasing a gun for their 15-year-old son and using it in the school shooting. They are also accused of ignoring his pleas for help, and prosecutors tried to prove in court that Jennifer Crumbley didn’t take her son’s complaints seriously. He presented text messages and emails from her.
Ethan Robert Crumbley (left) has been charged with first-degree murder in the high school shooting. His parents were also charged after the shooting. (Oakland County Sheriff)
James and Jennifer are the first parents to be charged in connection with a school shooting.
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“There were several times that Ethan expressed concerns about taking the test,” she testified Thursday. “Anxiety about what he was going to do after high school. College? Military? But it wasn’t at the level where he felt he needed to see a psychiatrist or a mental health professional.”
Jennifer Crumbley is on trial for the manslaughter of four students killed by her son Ethan Crumbley in 2021. (Mandy Wright/Detroit Free Press, via AP, Pool)
Jennifer broke down in tears Thursday while watching video of the shooting in court.
She also answered questions from the state on Friday. Prosecutors said Ethan arrived at Oxford High School on the morning of Nov. 30, 2021, to meet with a school counselor after she was found scribbling disturbing notes in class. He suggested the shooting could have been stopped before it occurred.
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His note included a picture of a gun and the words “Help me,” “I’m bleeding,” and “My life is worthless.”
James and Jennifer Crumbley met with their son and school leaders the morning of the shooting after Ethan Crumbley’s teacher noticed him drawing disturbing pictures in class. did. (Oakland County)
“You could have been with him,” Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Mark Keast said Friday.
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“I could have done that,” Jennifer Crumbley testified.
Jennifer Crumbley, 45, was charged with manslaughter in the Nov. 30, 2021, attack on Oxford High School in Michigan. (Mandy Wright/Detroit Free Press, via AP, Pool)
“And you didn’t,” Keast said.
Prosecutors argued that Jennifer and her husband left their son at school and went about their daily lives instead of taking him home. Ethan then pulled a gun from his backpack and shot a total of 11 people, killing four of them.
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Prosecutors also said Ethan Crumbley made a 19-minute video the day before the shooting explaining what he would do at school the next day.
A video showing Jennifer Crumbley (left) and her son Ethan Crumbley at the range for target practice on November 27, 2021 was shot on January 25, 2024 in Pontiac, Michigan. It was shown in court during the trial of Jennifer Crumbley. (Mandy Wright/Detroit Free Press, via AP, Pool)
After the shooting, the Crumbleys allegedly fled Oxford and went to Detroit after initial questioning by police. U.S. Marshals ultimately arrested them several days later on December 4, 2021.
“The moment this shooting became public and appeared in the newspapers and the media, Jennifer Crumbley started telling her story, and then she ran. And she didn’t run just because she was selfish. “She ran and started deleting ‘text messages, but she knew she had done something wrong, so she started talking about something else,'” said Oakland County Prosecutor. Karen McDonald said in her closing statement Friday.
“She wants you to believe that she’s someone you’re not.”
Detectives who raided the Crumbley family’s Oxford home before obtaining a search warrant testified Wednesday about Jennifer’s case. Photos of the home presented in court showed it in disrepair before authorities searched it. Detectives said the home was likely in normal condition when they conducted the initial sweep.
As Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald speaks in court, Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of Ethan Crumbley, the teenager accused of killing four students in the Oxford High School shooting, tells a colleague: The addressed text will be displayed. (AP Photo/Paul Sancia)
Photos showed a shooting range target with bullet holes hanging in Ethan’s cluttered bedroom. The second bedroom, which was also apparently the shooter’s room, also appeared to be in disarray, with items on the floor and bed.
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Authorities found a gun safe on a shelf in the bedroom of James and Jennifer Crumbley. There were two guns in the safe.
Police found a spent shell casing on the nightstand in Ethan Crumbley’s room on the day of the shooting. An empty whiskey bottle was also found next to the bed and a knife on the shelf.
Jennifer Crumbley testified that her husband was usually responsible for keeping the family’s guns safe and secure in the house.
Jennifer’s defense attorney, Paulette Loftin, argued that prosecutors used “selective evidence” to charge Jennifer with manslaughter.
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“It’s clear that real life is messy and complicated, and during this trial I freely admit that I’m a messed up lawyer. … I’m a human being, and Mrs. Crumbley is human too. , and that’s what this lawsuit is about: ‘She’s not a perfect person or a perfect parent,’ Loftin said in her closing statement.
Loftin added that the shooting was “obviously unforeseen by Mrs. Crumbley.”
