James Crumbley trial: What happened on the fourth day
(FOX 2) - The involuntary manslaughter trial for James Crumbley, father of the Oxford High School shooter, continued Tuesday with testimony mostly surrounding his apprehension, the state of his home, and the defendant's son’s journal entries.
Some of the most consequential testimony was delivered today after a jury got a good look at where and how firearms were stored in the Crumbley home, what they had on them when they were arrested, and key statements from the shooter who wrote about his plan to carrying the Nov. 30, 2021 mass shooting.
James Crumbley's trial for involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the tragedy is the second after Jennifer Crumbley, his wife, was convicted on the same charges in February. They’re the first parents of a mass shooter to be charged for their child’s crimes.
The shooter’s parents are accused of ignoring their son's mental health and providing him with the 9 mm gun he used to kill his peers and injure a teacher. Their son was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole late last year.
Both parents have been jailed since their arrest a few days after the shooting. Here are the topics of testimony and highlights from them on the fourth day of the trial:
Oxford shooter's journal entries
Detective Lt. Tim Willis with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, the officer in charge of the school shooting case, testified that after the shooting the shooter's backpack was found inside a bathroom. The backpack contained a journal.
The school shooter’s journal was referenced previously in his mother’s trial and was discussed again Tuesday as several of the entries made reference to his parents, and some in particular to his father.
The entries, according to the prosecution, were indicative of the shooter’s request for mental health help, his desire to obtain a 9mm handgun and his plans to carry out a shooting at the school.
In one entry, the shooter wrote that he was "begging" his dad for a 9mm pistol. You can read more about that and the journal entries here.
The defense attorney spent most of her cross-examination of Willis gaining further clarity about what the shooter meant when he wrote he had "access" to a gun in the house.
Searching the Crumbley house
The jury saw video of James and Jennifer Crumbley, in the backseat of a patrol car while the search was being executed, and also of James telling Det. Adam Stoyek with the Oakland County Sheriff Department which guns he had in the house and where they’d be found.
In another video, James told Stoyek he was willing to tell him whatever they needed to know.
"I am completely open and I want you guys to do what you have to do," James Crumbley said from the back of a police car.
Defense attorney Mariell Lehman would later point out that James was compliant with the investigation and willing to state specifically where the weapons were in the home, including BB guns.
READ MORE: James Crumbley's gun safe set to default code 000 as police searched home
Apprehending the Crumbleys
The jury also heard testimony from four witnesses that centered around James’ apprehension at an industrial building in Detroit.
First, David Hendrick, a retired sergeant formerly with the Oakland County fugitive apprehension team, testified about being assigned to find the Crumbleys in the days after the shooting.
Luke Kirtley, the coffee manufacturer owner who spotted the Crumbley parent's car at an industrial building in Detroit the night of their arrest and called 911 also testified.
The jury saw security footage from 1111 Bellevue that showed Kirtley arriving in the parking lot and looking at the vehicle’s license plate, and heard audio from his 911 call.
William Creer, a forensic technician with the Detroit Police Department, testified about his work processing the scene after a search warrant was served at the location where the Crumbleys were apprehended.
Creer collected bags and totes of various clothing and personal items including medications, four cell phones that were turned off and more than $6,600 in cash. He testified that his job was to collect and photograph evidence but had no knowledge about the items’ purposes.
Kirtley, Hendrick and Creer all testified during Jennifer’s trial.
READ MORE: James Crumbley trial: Parents found with $6K in cash, 4 phones
A new witness was called to the stand, David Metzke, who is with the Detroit Police Department’s special response team and was called to work the night of the arrests.
The jury saw Metzke’s body cam footage showing the moments his team entered the room in which James and Jennifer were lying on a mattress in the middle of the floor.
Metzke testified that he didn’t recall James Crumbley doing anything combative that would have caused Metzke or his team to react on a higher level of heightened alertness.
Crumbley’s trial is set to resume Wednesday, March 13 at 9 a.m.