James Crumbley jailhouse recordings threatening prosecutor released

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office has released several jailhouse recordings of James Crumbley in which he made threatening statements toward the prosecutor amid his involuntary manslaughter case.

The father of the Oxford High School shooter said Karen McDonald "should be scared" and that he was going to "take her down" while talking to family members from the Oakland County jail. FOX 2 has edited the recordings and removed expletives used by Crumbley. 

Crumbley was convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter by a jury in March and was sentenced to 10-15 years in prison in early April.

When reports of Crumbley's threatening messages reached the prosecutor, it was brought before Judge Cheryl Matthews. In them, Crumbley can be heard referring to McDonald with expletives. He also blamed the school for the mass shooting as well as calling himself a martyr. 

"I feel like I joined the military, and I'm going to fight for my country," he says in one recording.

Some of the other statements he made included:

  • "If they allow this stupid b**** to do to us what she's trying to do based upon nothing, there's no - here's the thing - she never did, they never did any type of investigation before they charged us"
  • "We're martyrs to make sure that this s*** doesn't happen to anybody else in America again."
  • "Yeah, you f****** Karen McDonald, you're a f****** stupid b****, I hope you're listening to this"
  • "It wasn't us. It wasn't us! It was the f****** school!"
  • "Go ahead, record this call, send it to Karen McDonald. Tell her how James Crumbley's going to take her down. She will not have a law license when I get done with her and like I said earlier, Karen McDonald will be working at f****** McDonalds because she ain't going to be able to get a f****** job anywhere else."
  • "F***** three months from now, s**** f***** going down. I mean it's going f***** down. When I get out of here, I am f***** on a rampage Karen. Yes, Karen McDonald, your a** is going down and you better be f***** should be scared."

During James and Jennifer Crumbley's sentencing, they used their statements to apologize to the victims before shifting blame elsewhere. 

At one point, Jennifer Crumbley said she "hated" the prosecutor.

Related

James Crumbley threatens Prosecutor Karen McDonald: 'You’re going down'

The prosecution released James Crumbley's threatening jail calls against Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald during a memo to the judge, recommending a 10-15 year sentence.

James Crumbley TrialOakland County