James, Jennifer Crumbley hearing Tuesday to determine if couple should stand trial
Court weighs if parents of Oxford High School shooter should be held responsible
Attorneys for James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, have asked that their case be dismissed. Now, a judge is deciding if the couple should go to trial and be held responsible for their son's actions.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - After spending more than a year in jail, the parents of the Oxford School shooter still don't know if they'll be tried in the deaths of four students.
Their case was put on pause by the Michigan State Supreme Court last year, asking the lower court to reconsider a decision to side with a separate judge's ruling that James and Jennifer Crumbley should stand trial.
The Crumbley parents are both charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after their son Ethan went on a shooting spree in 2021. A trial was scheduled for January but in November, the state Supreme Court questioned whether there was insufficient evidence to try both Crumbleys after the parents appealed the case.
On Tuesday, the court of appeals heard arguments from both defense attorneys and the Oakland County prosecutor. Court was adjourned around 11 a.m.
Appeals Court to hear if parents of Oxford mass shooter should face trial
James and Jennifer Crumbley have both been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. A Michigan Appeals Court will hear oral arguments about whether those charges should be dropped or whether the couple should stand trial.
The order to delay the trial came one day before the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting, which left four kids dead and several others injured. Ethan Crumbley has since pled guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
RELATED: 'They covered it up': Parents of Oxford High School shooting victims on new allegations
Both parents involved in the case have been incarcerated in Oakland County jail since December 2021 when they were found in an art studio in Detroit.
James and Jennifer Crumbley
Police and prosecutors say the two were hiding under blankets and appeared to be on the run from law enforcement after Ethan's arrest.
Prosecutor Karen McDonald has pushed for criminal charges against the parents, arguing they were neglectful of their son's mental health and enabled his dark tendencies when they bought him a firearm. During his guilty plea, Ethan said he gave his father the money to buy him the gun used in the fatal shooting.
Their attorneys have fought to have many pieces of evidence tossed from the case from references to Joe Biden and a desire for fame, to the head of a dead bird and questions of adultery and pot and alcohol use.
Parents of teen shooters have rarely been tried for the crime.
The Crumbley parents 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. They have also asked to be released from jail while their cases progress.
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.