PONTIAC (WWJ) — A jury has been seated and opening statements are set to be delivered Thursday in the involuntary manslaughter trial of James Crumbley, the father of the convicted Oxford High School shooter.
After two days of jury selection, nine women and six men were chosen Wednesday for the jury, including three alternate jurors. Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews scheduled opening arguments to begin at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
James Crumbley is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Oxford High School shooting, carried out by his son, Ethan.
The finalization of the jury comes a month after his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in a case also heard by Matthews. Her trial lasted nine days.
The Crumbleys are the first in U.S. history to be criminally charged in connection with a school shooting carried out by their child.
Their son shot and killed four classmates — Madisyn Baldwin, Justin Shilling, Tate Myre and Hana St. Juliana — and wounded six students and a teacher on Nov. 30, 2021.
WWJ Legal Analyst Charlie Langton reported from the courthouse that it was "a very interesting day of jury selection."
"A couple of jurors that were asked questions about the case: 'did you hear anything about it?' One juror said, 'yeah, this is a case that's long overdue to prevent kids from being killed.' Obviously that person was favored by the prosecution," Langton said.
"Another person said that the prosecution bringing this case is 'a travesty of justice,'" Langton said. "Obviously, that helped the defense. However, neither one of those jurors made it to the final 15."
Throughout the questioning of prospective jurors, Langton said there was "a lot of talk about guns still; storage of guns, access to guns, teen use of guns."
Langton says he has been "getting the indication" that Crumbley will not take the stand in this case, unlike his wife in her case, based on the questioning from defense attorney Mariell Lehman.
Langton reported every juror was asked, "is it ok if the defendant doesn't take the stand?"
Langton said most of the jurors have kids and most also have guns. He noted Crumbley participated in juror selection with a pen and pad of paper and "purposely kicked off a couple that didn't have kids."
Matthews denied a request made by James Crumbley's legal team to have the trial moved out of Oakland County. Attorneys had argued he wouldn't be able to get a fair trial after his wife's conviction last month.
