Jennifer Crumbley, mother of Oxford High School shooter, wants conviction tossed
(CBS DETROIT) — Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter, is asking a judge to overturn her involuntary manslaughter conviction.
In a motion filed Monday in Oakland County Circuit Court, Jennifer Crumbley's attorney, Michael Dezsi, said his client's proceedings were "tainted from top to bottom and were borne out of prosecutorial overreach attempting to criminalize Mrs. Crumbley's noncriminal conduct."
Dezsi is asking a judge to acquit Jennifer Crumbley or that she be granted a new trial.
"Jennifer Crumbley's convictions for involuntary manslaughter stem from a trial riddled with legal errors where key evidence was withheld, and cooperation agreements were peddled and suppressed to secure testimony for the prosecution to convict an individual who committed no crime," Dezsi said in a statement. "There's a reason why no parent in America has ever been held responsible for the criminal acts of their child in relation to a school shooting. It is because Mrs. Crumbley committed no crime. This case should be concerning for parents everywhere."
Jennifer Crumbley was convicted in February of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the Nov. 30, 2021, mass shooting carried out by her son, Ethan Crumbley, that claimed the lives of Justin Shilling, 17, Madisyn Baldwin, 17, Tate Myre, 16, and Hana St. Juliana, 14, and injured seven others. Her husband, James Crumbley, was convicted on the same four counts in March. The two were sentenced in April to 10-15 years in prison, becoming the first parents in the U.S. to be held responsible for a school shooting committed by their child.
Prosecutors argued during the historic trials that the shooting was preventable and that the parents ignored the shooter's mental health needs and bought him the gun that he used in the shooting.
Dezsi, who was appointed Jennifer Crumbley's appellant attorney in April, says Jennifer Crumbley's conviction should be overturned because prosecutors did not provide her defense team the proffer agreements of Oxford High School counselor Shawn Hopkins and former dean of students Nicholas Ejak. The two were key witnesses for the prosecution.
"Apart from the improper decision to charge, Mrs. Crumbley was denied a fair trial where the prosecution deliberately withheld from the defense key impeachment evidence and proceeded on Kafkaesque inconsistent legal theories that work a grave injustice on the law. Mrs. Crumbley's constitutional rights were further violated by allowing the jury to convict her in the absence of a unanimous decision as to what crime was even committed," Dezi wrote in a motion.
Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Williams responded to Dezsi's allegations, saying:
"No witnesses were given anything for their testimony, and there was no immunity – these witnesses testified without any promises or protection whatsoever," Williams said. "The Michigan Court of Appeals has already reviewed the legal issues raised by Jennifer Crumbley and rejected them. Where there are egregious facts like these – where two parents ignored the obvious signs that their son was in crisis, bought him a gun and failed to secure it, and then failed to disclose the existence of the gun or take their son home when he drew out his plans, including writing 'blood everywhere' with a picture of a gun and a body with bleeding bullet wounds, they can and should be prosecuted.
Dezsi also claims that Jennifer Crumbley's constitutional rights were violated when the judge instructed that the jury convict her in the absence of a unanimous decision, that she "owed no legal duty to the victims of the shooting such that she could not be held criminally responsible for involuntary manslaughter," that her right to a fair trial was violated by "the prosecution's assertion of inconsistent theories of culpability," and that she lacked an effective defensive team.
In response to Jennifer Crumbley's motion, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said, in a statement, "Parents everywhere are worried. But they are not worried about being prosecuted, they are worried about their kids being shot at school. James and Jennifer Crumbley are the rare, grossly negligent exception, and twenty-four jurors unanimously agreed they are responsible for the deaths of Hana, Madisyn, Tate, and Justin. Holding them accountable for their role is one important step in making our schools safer."
The shooter was sentenced in December 2023 to life without the possibility of parole. Jennifer Crumbley is currently serving out her sentence at the Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti.
Last week, Molly Darnell, the only adult and Oxford school employee who was shot by Crumbley's son in the mass shooting, filed a lawsuit against the Oxford Community School District and several former school officials.