By Ed White—
The Associated Press
A Michigan jury received instructions from a judge and began deliberating this Monday in a novel trial against the mother of a school attacker who could go to prison if she is convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of four students in 2021.
“You should not let sympathy, bias or prejudice influence your decision,” Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews asked them.
Jennifer Crumbley waits to be escorted out of the Oakland County courtroom on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, in Pontiac, Michigan.Carlos Osorio/AP
Prosecutors allege Jennifer Crumbley was grossly negligent when she failed to inform Oxford High School officials that the family had weapons,
including a 9mm pistol.
which was used by her son
, Ethan Crumbley, at a shooting range just days before.
The school was concerned about a macabre drawing of a gun, a bullet and a wounded man, accompanied by desperate phrases, in a maths assignment.
But Ethan was allowed to remain in the institution on November 30, 2021, after a meeting of about 12 minutes with Jennifer and James Crumbley, who did not take him home.
The teenager took the gun out of his backpack in the afternoon and shot at 10 students and a teacher, killing four classmates.
No one had checked the backpack.
“He literally drew a picture of what he was going to do.
She says, 'help me,'” prosecutor Karen McDonald said last Friday during final arguments in the suburbs of Detroit.
Jennifer Crumbley knew the gun in the drawing was identical to the new one she had at home, McDonald added.
“She knew that she was not well protected,” added the prosecutor.
“She knew he was skilled with the weapon.
“She knew he had access to ammunition.”
[They investigate an alleged accomplice of the parents of Ethan Crumbley, accused of the shooting in Michigan]
“Even the smallest actions” by Jennifer Crumbley could have saved the lives of Hana St. Juliana, Tate Myre, Justin Shilling and Madisyn Baldwin, the prosecutor claimed.
Defense attorney Shannon Smith told jurors that a conviction would have a chilling effect on unwitting parents whose children break the law.
The tragedy, she argued, was not foreseeable.
Ethan Crumbley was a “skilled manipulator” who did not suffer from any mental illness, and the gun was the responsibility of James Crumbley, not his wife, Smith added.
“Unfortunately, this is a case in which the prosecution made a charging decision too quickly,” Smith insisted.
“It was motivated for obvious reasons, for political gain and done to get media attention.”
He added that the case will not do justice to the victims or their families: “It certainly does not bring back any lives.”
Jennifer Crumbley, 45, and James Crumbley, 47, are the first parents in the United States to be charged in a mass school shooting committed by their son.
The latter faces trial in March.
The maximum penalty for involuntary manslaughter is 15 years in prison.
The Crumbleys have been in jail for more than two years, unable to post $500,000 bail while they await trial.
Ethan Crumbley, now 17,
pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism and is serving a life sentence.
In addition to knowing about the gun, the Crumbleys are accused of ignoring their son's mental health needs.
In a diary found by police in her backpack, she wrote that they did not listen to her pleas for help.
“I have zero help for my mental issues and it is causing me to shoot up the…school,” Ethan wrote.