Crumbley parents trial set for January as Ethan pleads guilty
OXFORD, Mich. (FOX 2) - The trial for James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parent of Oxford High School shooter Ethan, will head to trial in January.
On Monday, Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to all charges against him including four counts of murder, one count of terrorism, seven counts of assault with intent to murder, and 12 counts of possession of a firearm while in the commission of a felony.
He signed his plea agreement last week, giving up his right to a trial. But it will have no impact on the upcoming trial for his parents, James and Jennifer.
RELATED: Ethan Crumbley's attorney claims he's remorseful for Oxford shooting: 'Remember he is a 16-year-old'
According to the Oakland County Circuit Court, jury selection for the trial of James and Jennifer is set for Jan. 17 after the initial hearing was delayed due to motion hearings.
The trial was supposed to start on October 24 but, according to the Oakland County Circuit Court records, that date had been adjourned. Now it's set for January.
WATCH: Ethan Crumbley, accused Oxford High School mass shooter pleads guilty to murder, terrorism
James and Jennifer Crumbley have fought to have charges against them thrown out, with their attorneys arguing that they couldn't have known what their son was allegedly planning.
However, during Ethan's guilty plea hearing on Monday, he said that he asked James to buy him the gun used in the shooting and gave money to his father to do so. This will likely be used against the Crumbley parents during their January trial.
How long will the trial of James and Jennifer Crumbley be?
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald took the extraordinary step of charging the parents of the alleged shooter, Ethan Crumbley, with four counts each of manslaughter.
She told FOX 2 in March that this question came into her mind right after the shooting: what about the parents of the suspect?
"The more we learned, the more disturbed we were," she said.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Marc Keast said all the signs were there.
"It’s even got the ATF Youth Handgun notice underneath it which is just sickening when you look back on it," Keast said, referencing the post and picture that Jennifer put online.
Read: Prosecutors say Ethan Crumbley's parents ignored signs of violence for months
He told FOX 2 they can prove that Crumbley was disturbed and violence was inevitable but his parents did nothing except buy him a gun. Keast sites a social media post that Jennifer put up about Ethan's birthday gift to support this claim.
But that won't be easy. The trial is expected to be complex and jury selection alone could take at least a week, according to Judge Matthews.
"It's hard to predict how long the trial will go and how long it will take to select a jury. I think probably it will take at least a week to select a jury," she said.
The date of October 24 is tentative and is not set in the court's schedule yet so it could still change.
What are James and Jennifer Crumbley charged with?
Over the course of two days in February, multiple pieces of evidence were presented suggesting that James and Jennifer Crumbley failed to address concerns regarding Ethan Crumbley's mental health. The couple is also accused of buying a gun for the 15-year-old on Friday, Nov. 26 - just four days before the shooting at Oxford High School.
According to authorities, Jennifer Crumbley made an Instagram post that said she was at a gun range shooting a weapon that was her son's Christmas present days before the shooting.
During the preliminary exam, text messages between Jennifer Crumbley and Ethan Crumbley were presented that showed for months before the shooting, the teen would text his mother about hallucinations he was having while home alone. On multiple occasions, she didn't acknowledge these messages.
Text messages between Ethan Crumbley and a close friend also revealed a look into the teen's relationship with his parents.
In an exchange on April 5, 2021, prosecutors described "quite a bit" of discussion about his mental state in which Ethan Crumbley told his friend he was "f----- up," experiencing hallucinations, and had asked his parents for help.