Jennifer Crumbley verdict: Parents of school shooting victims react as killer’s mother is found guilty

Jennifer Crumbley’s trial is underway while her husband’s trial is scheduled for March; they were asked to be tried separately.

The parents face four counts of involuntary manslaughter, accused of ignoring his mental health condition and making the gun accessible at home.

Four days before the shooting on 30 November 2021, James bought his son a gun, which Ethan described on Instagram as his “new beauty”.

Jennifer then took her son to a shooting range.

A few days later, a teacher noticed the high school sophomore searching online for ammunition, sparking concerned school administrators to contact his parents.

Instead of responding to the school, his mother allegedly texted her son: “Lol. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.”

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A convicted killer and friend of Jennifer Crumbley was removed from the courtroom just before opening statements in Ms Crumbley’s manslaughter trial.

Megan Imirowicz, who was convicted at the age of 19 for killing her father by throwing corrosive lye powder and water onto him in 2021, befriended Ms Crumbley in prison.

Ahead of Thursday’s opening statements in Ms Crumbley’s trial, Oakland County assistant prosecutor Marc Keast said, “It’s come to our attention that one individual who was subpoenaed as a witness is in court today.”

Mr Keast said he was talking about Imirowicz. Shannon Smith, the defence attorney, said, “I don’t even know who Megan Imirowicz is,” while looking around the courtroom.

Imirowicz then seemed to leave the courtroom.

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“I know you guys have all had an exciting day,” Judge Cheryl Matthews told the five alternate jurors, who have been sequestered.

She acknowledged it can be “boring” to be in their position. Judge Matthews then said that she noticed one of the alternates was sleeping and others were playing sudoku and completing crosswords, sparking an eruption of laughter.

She then told some of them that they could sequester from home tomorrow and would be called in if one of the 12 jurors needed to be replaced.

Jurors were read instructions this morning and came back with two questions throughout the day — but did not reach a verdict yet.

They will return at 9am tomorrow.

The defence, on the other hand, insisted that her son’s mental condition was “not on her radar”, emphasised her husband’s love of guns, placed blame on the school, and described her as a “hypervigilant” mother.

Defence attorney Shannon Smith then quoted Taylor Swift in her opening statements and used the line “Band-Aids don’t stop bullet holes” from “Bad Blood.”

She said this case was about the prosecution “attempting to put a Band-Aid on problems that can’t be fixed with a Band-Aid”.

“A Band-Aid will never bring back the lives that were lost,” she added.

“Everyone in this courtroom agrees that on 3 November 3 2021, the worst possible thing happened when Ethan Crumbley used a gun and terrorised the Oxford High School.”

She said Ms Crumbley didn’t “have it on her radar in any way that there was any mental disturbance, that her son would ever take a gun into a school, that her son would ever shoot people”.

The defence tried to portray Ms Crumbley as an attentive mother. Evidence will show that Jennifer Crumbley is a “hypervigilant mother who cared more about her son than anything in the world”, her attorney said.

She took Ethan to soccer practice, basketball, and bowling, and even took him to urgent care when a 1mm mole changed colours, the defence said.

Jennifer “didn’t know anything about guns”, the defence said, claiming her husband loved guns, adding that they owned three firearms.

The defence argued that Ms Crumbley was not responsible for the storage of the gun “and not even knowing where the gun was placed”. Her husband “had hid the gun in the bedroom of their home”, she said. “James Crumbley had a key to the trigger lock that kept the gun secure.”

Her husband placed the gun in the car for her even when she and her son went to a shooting range, where her son showed her how to use a gun, the attorney explained.

She also addressed the meeting with concerned school officials on the day of the shooting, in which they suggested – but not insisted – the sophomore go home. It “caused him great anxiety to miss school” so she encouraged him to stay in school that day, the lawyer said, highlighting that the school gave her an option.

Hours later, her son opened fire at his high school.

Later that day, when the mother looked her son in the eyes at the substation, “his eyes looked black. It was a son she did not recognise”, the defence attorney said.

Her son “did something she could have never anticipated, fathomed, or predicted”, the defence said. “Her son had not been her son for months.”

The school didn’t tell her about “problematic issues” and gave a series of examples: when he tried to sleep in class, when he failed a test, an index card the shooter wrote in class with a drawing “of a loaded gun magazine”, his meeting with the school counsellor, in which the shooter said, “he was having a tough time”.

She told the jury that they would see that the shooting was “absolutely not foreseeable and absolutely not expected”.

Ms Crumbley faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter. She has pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, the maximum penalty for involuntary manslaughter is 15 years in prison.

As of Monday early afternoon, her case is still in the hands of 12 jurors.

They began deliberating on Monday morning after hearing nearly two weeks of testimony from school officials, law enforcement experts, acquaintances of Ms Crumbley and the defendant herself.

Ms Crumbley broke down in tears while the court was shown video footage of her 15-year-old son pointing his weapon at teachers and classmates in his high school.

The defendant’s sobs sparked a heated exchange among the attorneys.

The prosecution took issue with the response from Ms Crumbley — and her lawyer Ms Smith — to the footage, arguing they were not adhering to the court’s instructions to try to remain composed.

“You’re concerned about the influence of the jury. I take no issue with it. But it was a difficult thing and we’re doing it,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald told the judge. “And then to have not just the defendant, her lawyer sobbing.”

Ms Smith interjected: “I did not sob.” She told the judge that this footage isn’t relevant to her client’s case and added that her team has never seen it before.

“We were not sobbing or making a scene. All my eye makeup is still on,” she said.

“Everyone here is human,” Judge Cheryl Matthews said, underscoring that she’s “striving for a fair trial.” The judge added: “I’m not a robot. I’m trying to keep myself from sobbing. I’ll do it at six tonight.”

Last week, the court was shown footage of the first interview between police and the shooter’s parents – in which Jennifer Crumbley admitted that she regretted not taking their son out of school that day.

Hours before the mass shooting unfolded, the Crumbley parents were called in for a meeting with school administrators.

School staff had grown increasingly concerned after finding Ethan’s drawing, depicting a semiautomatic handgun pointing at the words “the thoughts won’t stop help me” and asked the parents to meet with them and their son to discuss it.

The parents refused to take Ethan out of school and he returned to the classroom. He opened fire hours later.

In police footage from later that day, investigators were seen bringing up the meeting with school staff.

Later in the interview, Ms Crumbley said the school counselor “didn’t seem worried” about the drawing and said that Ethan could either stay at school or his parents could take him home.

“And I really wish we took him home,” she can be heard saying.

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Brian Meloche, a long-time friend of Ms Crumbley, told the court about his relationship with the convicted shooter’s mother, who is now on trial facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter in a landmark trial about parental responsibility. She has pleaded not guilty.

After her son Ethan Crumbley opened fire inside the Michigan high school, Ms Crumbley texted Mr Meloche that the massacre “could have been prevented,” according to a message revealed in court.

Other texts showed her describing the school’s response to Ethan’s disturbing behaviour – such as drawing a doodle of a mass shooting or searching online for ammunition – as “nonchalant”.

On the morning before the shooting, school administrators had called in the Crumbleys to discuss their son’s recent behaviour. The school staff gave the Crumbleys a choice: to take their 15-year-old home that day or to let him stay in school.

They chose to keep him in school, both allegedly citing that they had jobs to return to.

Despite telling school officials she had to return to work, Ms Crumbley had actually messaged Mr Meloche, saying that she could meet up with him, he testified.

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Spring 2021:

• An affair between Ms Crumbley and Brian Meloche – a fire department captain — began in spring of 2021. It lasted roughly six months, Mr Meloche testified.
• Ethan’s grandmother passed away and he began missing school, as he was in Florida to be with his family.
• Ms Crumbley texted her friend that she thought her son seemed “kind of depressed.”

Fall 2021:

• Ethan Crumbley’s best friend leaves the state for OCD treatment.
• His parents go to Halloween parties while Ethan is home alone.
• James Crumbley buy a 9mm gun for Ethan to use.
• His mother takes him to a shooting range.
• Hours before the shooting, his teacher discovered a disturbing drawing and called his parents to arrange a meeting.
• Ethan opened fire on his high school.