Prosecutors detail threats made by James Crumbley, ask for 10-15 years for both parents

In jail calls spanning at least seven months, James Crumbley repeatedly threatened Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald, calling her expletives and saying he was "on a rampage" and the attorney was "going down," according to details released Wednesday in the prosecutor's sentencing memorandum.

Crumbley, the father of the Oxford High School shooter, refers to McDonald as “that f-----g stupid whore b---h” and addresses the comments to her, at times saying “I hope you’re listening to this," according to the memorandum.

"Yeah, Karen McDonald, you’re going down. Yeah. You stupid b-----s at the jail. Go ahead, record this call, Send it to Karen McDonald. Tell her how James Crumbley is going to f-----g take her down,” he said Oct. 9.

The memorandum was filed just days before Crumbley, along with his wife, Jennifer, are to be sentenced Tuesday in Oakland Circuit Court by Judge Cheryl Matthews after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors are asking Matthews to sentence both James and Jennifer to 10 to 15 years in prison; 15 is the maximum sentence allowed by law.

In their 52-page memorandum for James, which includes exhibits, prosecutors said leading up to and during his trial last month, his behavior "showed a complete lack of remorse and disrespect for the court proceedings."

"Defendant’s jail calls showed that he blamed everyone but himself for what happened and that he repeatedly referred to himself as being persecuted and considered himself a 'martyr,'" prosecutors wrote.

Both James and Jennifer, meanwhile, asked Matthews to sentence them to time served. They have been in the Oakland County Jail for nearly two and a half years, since their December 2021 arrest.

But prosecutors said that James' "shameless" lack of remorse and asking for time served as his sentence "is a slap in the face to the severity of tragedy caused by his gross negligence, to the victims and their families, and to the applicable law that is premised on the concept of proportionate sentencing," prosecutors wrote.

They also touched on Jennifer's gross negligence, writing "her actions after the shooting and her statements in jail calls, during testimony, and after trial show a chilling lack of remorse."

Earlier this year, separate juries in Oakland County convicted Jennifer and James of four counts of involuntary manslaughter for their role in the deaths of four students shot by their son, Ethan, in Nov. 2021: Madisyn Baldwin; Hana St. Juliana; Tate Myre; and Justin Shilling.

Jennifer asked to be released from jail and serve her sentence on house arrest, noting her attorney, Shannon Smith, said she could live in her guest house in Oakland County.

Neither defense attorney, Shannon Smith for Jennifer, and Mariell Lehman for James, have filed sentencing memorandums with the court. They did not respond for comment Wednesday.

James Crumbley accuses prosecutors of lying

During his trial in March, it emerged that James had made threats against someone but it wasn't disclosed whom he threatened.

In the pre-sentence investigation report, Crumbley wrote that he did not participate in the shooting and said he had no knowledge that he had ever gotten access to his gun.

"I feel absolutely horrible/am devistated (sic) for what happend (sic) to those four children," he wrote. "I would give anything to go back and do something different that would have changed what happend (sic)."

He asked Matthews to sentence him to time served, noting he has spent nearly two and a half years in jail since he was arrested in December 2021. He said he was wrongfully accused, and now wrongfully convicted, of involuntary manslaughter.

"My actions were that of any other parent. Ethan was a great kid. He never got in trouble at school, had decent grades, and very rarely got in trouble at home," he wrote. "Ethan always appeared to be a very stable individual. Never did he voice anything to me that anything was bothering him. I talked with him everyday and he always said ‘things are fine dad.’ I’d ask about school and assigements (sic), or how he was doing with his friend being gone. Same answer always, ‘just fine. He’ll be back and I have other friends at school.’ He just reminded me of any other 15 yr old. Typical teenager."

James accused the prosecutors of lying, noting that they said during his son's Miller hearing, where a judge determined it would be fair to sentence him to life without parole as a juvenile, that the shooter was not mentally ill. Prosecutors have refuted the allegation of playing both sides, saying the legal definition of mentally ill is different than having depression or anxiety.

"The reasons I was charged have been concluded to not be true. Yet I'm still prosecuted as if they were," James wrote. "And, they used this information against Ethan in his miller hearing. And then I was not allowed to use it in my defense. So my prosecution and conviction are based on lies, things my son said only to his friend, and emotions."

Prosecutors also alleged in their sentencing memorandum that James gave McDonald the middle finger during the trial.

Jennifer's 'I wouldn't do anything different' shows lack of remorse

Prosecutors brought up statements Jennifer made while testifying during her trial, when she said she would not do anything different. She elaborated on this in her pre-sentence investigation report, saying hindsight made a difference.

"At trial, when I was on the stand I was asked if I would have done anything differently, I testified that I would not have — and that is true without the benefit of of (sic) hindsight that I have now," she wrote. "With the information I have now, of course my answer would be hugely different. There are so many things that I would change if I could go back in time. I knew my son to be a quiet, good kid, who loved his pets. I never imagined he would hurt other people in the way that he did."

Prosecutors said this was not the first time Jennifer made statements like this. She said in a jail call in June 2022 that she would not do anything different.

"Beyond defendant’s gross negligence, her actions after the shooting and her statements in jail calls, during testimony, and after trial show a chilling lack of remorse," prosecutors wrote.