Oakland Co. prosecutor: Case against Crumbley parents 'stronger' than ever

Oakland Couty Prosecutor Karen McDonald claims that her involuntary manslaughter case against the parents of the teen who went on a deadly shooting rampage at Oxford High School in November 2021 is stronger than ever.

McDonald's argument was filed Friday in response to the sixth request for a lower bond filed by defense attorneys on behalf of James and Jennifer Crumbley in a bid to get released from jail while waiting to stand trial on the four counts of involuntary manslaughter tied to the shooting deaths of the four students at Oxford High. The bond is currently $500,000 for each defendant, an amount that their attorneys described as "excessive and unwarranted."

"The case against the Defendants is stronger now (than) it was at the time of any prior bond review," McDonald wrote in a filing in response to the request for a bond review.

The case was recently sent back to the Michigan Court of Appeals by the Michigan Supreme Court, which wants a three-judge panel of the appeals court to determine if there is enough evidence for the parents to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter. In February, Rochester Hills District Judge Julie Nicholson ruled that James and Jennifer Crumbley should stand trial following a two-day preliminary examination with more than a half-dozen witnesses.

In response to the request for a lower bond, which was filed on Wednesday, McDonald claimed that Jennifer Crumbley had concerns about her son's mental condition before she and her husband bought him a gun — a piece of evidence that would undercut the defense's argument that the parents weren't grossly negligent and didn't know about Ethan Crumbley's plan for the shooting.

"Jennifer Crumbley’s own statement, in the back of the police car after the shooting, about what she knew about the shooter’s mental state when she and James Crumbley bought the shooter his gun: 'You know my biggest fear was that he was gonna turn the gun on himself,'" McDonald said in the filing.

Jennifer and James Crumbley have both been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deaths of four Oxford High students Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Justin Shilling, 17. Their son Ethan Crumbley, 16, pleaded guilty to 24 criminal charges, including first-degree murder, in October and faces a possible life sentence in prison.

McDonald has argued that Jennifer and James Crumbley's gross negligence in caring for their son, who was 15 years old at the time of the shooting, caused the deaths of the four teenagers.

Ethan Crumbley admitted that the murder weapon was not locked up while under oath in court, a development that McDonald highlighted in Friday's filing. His parents have previously claimed that the gun was locked up but that claim is absent from the most recent bond review request, the Oakland County prosecutor said in her filing on Friday.

The Crumbley's attorneys have continuously argued that their clients are not a flight risk, which Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews has rejected on previous requests to lower bond.

Jennifer and James Crumbley were arrested last December in the Detroit art studio of a friend after an hours-long manhunt. Investigators have argued the Crumbleys were hiding at the studio and planning to leave the area and McDonald has cited the manhunt as a reason why they are a flight risk.

Defense attorneys Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman claim their clients intended to turn themselves in and went to Detroit because they had received threats at their home.

McDonald argued that the defendants have never addressed their attempt to flee to the police or in court. If Smith is offering testimony about what the Crumbleys told her and what she observed prior to their arrests then she is a witness, McDonald claims. McDonald called on Smith to recuse herself from the case and to be appointed as a witness.

McDonald argued that the Crumbleys are more of a flight risk now than at previous requests for a lower bond.

"The few ties the Defendants had to the community were severed when they sold their house and theirhorses, and to the extent there was ever anyone in the community who was willing to harbor them,there are none now," McDonald said in her filing.

The Crumbley's attorneys claim they sold their house to pay legal fees and cite their lack of criminal history as another reason for a lower bond.

"The prosecution has advanced an inaccurate narrative to make the Crumbleys sound like they were fleeing prior to their arrest," defense lawyers Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman said in their Wednesday filing.

Matthews has issued a gag order on all attorneys involved in the case, prohibiting them from talking about the case outside the court to the news media. The defense attorneys said public comments made by McDonald about their clients could prejudice potential jurors against the Crumbleys. The defense attorneys expressed concerns again in October about McDonald sharing information with the 1,800 registered victims in the case via email.

Mattews did not restrict McDonald's ability to provide information about the case to victims but urged her to be cautious.

hmackay@detroitnews.com