Jury deliberations to begin in James Crumbley manslaughter trial
Defense attorneys for James Crumbley rested their case Wednesday after calling only one witness to the stand.
Nicole Beausoleil, mother of Oxford High shooting victim Madisyn Baldwin, sits as video is played showing the shooting at Oxford H.S., Tuesday, March 12, 2024, in Pontiac, Mich. James Crumbley is the father of Ethan Crumbley, who killed four students and wounded more at Oxford High School and is charged with involuntary manslaughter for failing to safely store a handgun used by his son in the 2021 attack and ignoring signs of the boy's mental despair.
Closing arguments began Wednesday afternoon in the involuntary manslaughter trial of the father whose teenage son shot and killed four classmates and wounded seven other people at Oxford High School in 2021.
Defense attorneys for James Crumbley rested their case Wednesday after calling only one witness — the defendant’s sister, Karen Crumbley — to the stand. Karen Crumbley, who lives out-of-state, said she didn’t see anything troubling about the teen during two visits with Ethan Crumbley in 2021, long before the attack.
“Do you recall seeing anything concerning about your nephew? Do you recall him saying anything concerning to you?” defense attorney Mariell Lehman asked on Wednesday.
“No,” Karen Crumbley replied.
Lehman appeared to be trying to show jurors that family members saw no signs that would ultimately lead him to commit the mass shooting.
After his sister’s brief appearance, James Crumbley stood and said he would not testify in his own defense.
“We talked about the benefits of you testifying. We talked about the risks of you testifying,” Lehman said.
“That is correct,” James Crumbley replied.
Throughout the five-day trial, prosecutors presented much of the same evidence used against the defendant’s wife, Jennifer Crumbley, who was found guilty of the same involuntary manslaughter charges that James Crumbley now faces.
The basis of the prosecutors arguments revolve around the idea that James Crumbley could have done more to prevent the killings of four students — including notifying school officials about their son’s access to a firearm, which James Crumbley gifted to Ethan just four days before the shooting occurred.
In her closing argument, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald urged the jury to ignore claims from the defense that “This could be you.”
“It is not the case that finding James Crumbley guilty of gross negligence would result in a criminal charge for every parent who doesn’t know what their child is doing at all times,” she said. “And it is not the case that he was faced with the same normal challenges as parents that we all go through and suddenly found himself in a court room being charged with involuntary manslaughter. It is just not the case, and the evidence shows it.”
McDonald pointed to various examples of points in which the Crumbleys ignored signs that their son was struggling with his mental health and could become violent, including a visit both parents made to the school the morning of the shooting regarding a disturbing drawing Ethan made on a math worksheet that showed a gun, bullets, blood and the words “help me” and “blood everywhere.”
During the defense’s closing argument, Lehman reinforced to the jury the fact that her client didn’t know his son posed a threat to others and was not aware his son knew where the 9mm handgun was hidden.
“You heard no testimony and you saw no evidence that James Crumbley knew that his son was a danger to anyone,” she said. “Still, the prosecution wants you to find that James could foresee that his son was a danger to others.”
The verdict in James Crumbley’s trial could change a legal precedent set just weeks ago in his wife’s case, which held Jennifer Crumbley criminally-responsible for the actions of her son, who is now serving a life prison sentence for murder and terrorism.
The Associated Press and WDET reporter Quinn Klinefelter contributed to this report.
