PONTIAC, Mich. (WWJ) -- An attorney for Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of Oxford High School mass shooter Ethan Crumbley, says her client will take the stand in her own defense her manslaughter trial.
That fact was revealed in opening statements Thursday in the case against the Oakland County woman charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the November 30, 2021, slayings of Oxford students Hana St. Juliana, Madison Baldwyn, Tate Myre and Justin Shilling.
James and Jennifer Crumbley are the first parents in the country to face such a charge in connection with a mass shooting carried out by their child.
As detailed by the prosecution and the defense as the trial began, here's what jurors were told to expect in upcoming testimony:
THE PRESCUTION'S CASE
First to speak was Assistant Prosecutor Mark Keast, who asserted the following as he presented what he called a "snapshot of the evidence" against the defendant:
-- These four teens were murder in an act of terror by Jennifer Crumble's 15 year-old son.
-- The handgun used by Ethan in the shootings was bought by Jennifer's husband for Ethan; a purchase that was "celebrated" by Jennifer in an Instagram post. The post reads: "Mom and son say testing out his new Christmas present. My first time shooting a 9mm. I hit the bullseye."
-- Keast said the evidence will show Ethan was in a "downward spiral," and that his mother was aware her son's "deteriorating mental crisis," and "growing social isolation," by the time he was gifted the gun.
-- Despite all of this, Keast claims the gun was not secured in a way to prevent Ethan from getting access to it.
-- The morning of Nov. 30, Keast said Jennifer had an opportunity to prevent the murders. Jennifer was presented with a disturbing and violent drawing by her son and told her husband in a text that she was "very concerned." However, after the parents attended a meeting with the school councilor, they did not take their son home.
-- During that meeting, they did not mention that their son had a gun, nor did they mention his increased mental distress. "They didn't do any number of tragically small and easy things that would prevent all of this from happening," Keast asserted.
-- Keast said jurors will hear from between 20 to 25 witnesses, including law enforcement and school officials, and will be shown over 400 exhibits.
-- Jurors will be shown a "digital footprint" of the Crumbley family. "And you'll get an idea, you'll get a view of the Crumbley life in the days, the weeks, the months proceeding the shooting."
- Keast said the evidence will show a pattern of lies by the defendant following the shooing. "That pattern will include and will show you that she will immediately began to downplay and downright lie about her level of knowledge of her son and that weapon and that drawing on November 30th," up until the time Jennifer and her spouse were "found hiding from the police in Detroit."
-- The defendant's first instinct, said Keast was to lie, and her second was to run.
-- Keast noted that while Jennifer did not give her son the gun and did not know what he would murder, the evidence will show she was negligent. "You're gong to learn that involuntary manslaughter is committed when someone's acts or their failures to act, or their failures to do their legal duty were grossly negligent, and that gross negligent was a cause of death."
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THE CASE FOR THE DEFENSE
Defense attorney Shannon Smith asserted the following in her opening statement:
-- Smith said this is a case of attempting to use a band aid to fix a bullet hole, an that the prosecution has charged Jennifer Crumbley with involuntary manslaughter "in an effort to make the community feel better, in an effort to make people feel like someone is being held responsible, in an effort to send a message to gun owners."
-- Smith said the evidence in this case is horrendous, will scare you, traumatize you, will make you sick, but will not prove the case against her client. That evidence is about the shooter, Smith asserted, who is responsible for the killings on Nov. 30.
-- Prior to the day of the shooting, Smith said Jennifer "did not have it on her radar in any way" that her son was in any mental distress, that he would ever take a gun into a school, or that he would ever shoot people.
-- Smith said the evidence will show that Jennifer Crumbley was a good mother who "did the best she could as a mother to a child who grew up into a teenager, and had no way to know what was going to happen."
-- Smith said, in fact, the evidence will show Jennifer was a "hyper-vigilant mother who cared more about her son than anything in the world."
- While Jennifer is not a perfect parent, Smith said the prosecution has very selectively, pulled out "slivers of evidence from a forest of trees," to be shared without context, that there was something wrong with Ethan and that his mother should have known.
-- Much of the evidence presented will center on James Crumbley, who is not on trial in this case, and is being tried separately, Smith said.
-- Smith said evidence will show that James and Ethan "liked guns" and went to the range often. Smith asserts that James bought and owned the guns, that Jennifer "didn't know anything about guns," and only went to the range two times.
-- Smith said Jennifer did not know where the gun was stored in the home, and that her husband was responsible for storing the gun — including securing the trigger lock — and that James had the key.
-- Smith said there was a lot of good things in Ethan's life, and there was some sadness, but "nothing that would have amounted to any reason to believe that he was going to shoot people or commit a school shooting."
-- Jennifer was "the breadwinner" for the family, and while she was at work on the morning of the shooting, she "freaked out" when she saw her son's disturbing drawing, and rushed to the school.
-- Jennifer did not refuse to take Ethan home that day, Smith said. "She was provided the option of take him home or leave him here," and Ethan wanted to stay. "The school was fine with it."
-- Smith did not believe that Ethan could be the shooter until her husband told her the gun was missing. When Jennifer texted her son, "Ethan, don't do it," Smith said Jennifer was urging her son not to kill himself. "It still has not crossed her mind that he would ever shoot another person."
-- Smith said when Jennifer takes the stand to testify she will tell jurors, even once Jennifer was told what her son had done, "She still could not believe that was true, and went into a complete state of shock and despair."
-- When the mother saw her son at the police substation after the shooting, "For the first time when he looks at her, his eyes looked black, and it was a son she did not recognize."
-- Smith said Jennifer and James left their home for their own safety, due to threats against them, not to run from the law. After learning that they had been charged, Smith said the couple planned to turn themselves in the next morning.
-- Smith said claims the couple went on the lam to hide and avoid the charges, Smith said, "couldn't be any further from the truth," and there is "no evidence" that the Crumbleys were fleeing from police.
-- When Jennifer testifies, Smith said, she will tell jurors about her life with her son, "And the day he did something she never could have anticipate or fathomed or predicted."
-- Smith said Jennifer did not learn until after the shooting that Ethan "had not been her son for months," and that he had been hiding things from her, manipulating her, and that the school never advised Jennifer of "problematic issues" with her son prior to the day of the shooting.
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After pleading guilty to first degree murder, terrorism and other charges, Ethan Crumbley was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
James Crumbley’s trial is scheduled to begin March 5.
To watch the People v. Crumbley LIVE on Zoom, click here.
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