Judge denies Jennifer Crumbley's motion to remove Oakland County prosecutor from case

FOX 2 - A motion by the mother of the Oxford school shooter was denied by a judge to remove the Oakland County prosecutor from the case, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The attorneys for Jennifer Crumbley filed a motion to remove and disqualify Prosecutor Karen McDonald. But the judge ruled that her court does not have jurisdiction to decide the motion.

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Crumbley's attorneys were also sanctioned for bringing the case forward, as Judge Cheryl Matthews ruled that the motion was brought "for an improper purpose" and was unwarranted.

"The court showed it has no tolerance for the defense’s misuse of the legal process, and they have been appropriately sanctioned," McDonald said in a statement. Let’s be clear about what this case is really about: If not for Jennifer Crumbley's actions, Madisyn, Tate, Hana, and Justin would still be here."

Crumbley wanted her conviction thrown out with her legal team alleging ethical violations, including that outside PR created an uneven playing field.

Attorney Michael Deszi said outside public relations teams were used by the Oakland County prosecutor’s office and that thousands of dollars crossed an ethical line.

Judge Cheryl Matthews said in her ruling the court refused to hear arguments over PR firms or alleged violations of gag orders because they were not the subject of the original motion and relevant.

"The  People  acknowledge  that  they  requested  that  the  County  Executive  and  Board  of Commissioners  approve  the  retention  of  the  crisis  communications  professional  to  field and respond to the media inquiries prior to the gag order and before the jury trial," Matthews ruled. "The People deny that the retention of the crisis communications professional resulted in a 'smear' campaign on the fact that the Court addressed Defendant’s  media coverage complaints in pretrial motions."

Read more: The Oxford High School shooting

McDonald - and the court - both said that the filing was an attempt to take attention off Crumbley herself. McDonald added that the cost was more efficient than hiring a Public Information Officer to handle media inquiries would have been.

"The suggestion of a smear campaign is ludicrous. The crisis communications firms fielded an overwhelming number of media inquiries, not drumming up coverage," she said. "And their work was not secret. They were hired with the approval of the County Executive and the Board of Commissioners, and they interacted with the media on a daily basis. The Prosecutor’s Office had no one to answer those calls."

Jennifer Crumbley (MDOC)

The filing by Crumbley's legal team - an instant motion - was not deemed appropriate, Judge Matthews ruled in her analysis.

"That is not a motion for a new trial, for a judgment of acquittal, to withdraw a plea, or to correct an invalid sentence," she said. "At its heart, the instant motion is a collateral attack on the judgment because  it seeks to raise issues that are more properly raised on appeal or in the motion for judgment of acquittal and/or for new trial."

She was held criminally responsible for the mass shooting at Oxford after her son’s deadly actions, her husband James was also convicted in the case. Their son pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Also at the heart of the filing was Crumbley's attorneys arguing that the prosecutor's office was tainted by the chief assistant's marriage to the producer of a Hulu documentary.

"A party moving for disqualification of a prosecutor based on a conflict of interest has the burden of showing both the conflict of interest and specific prejudice," Matthews wrote. "If  the Court had jurisdiction to decide the motion, the Court would find that neither basis (personal, financial, or emotional interest in the litigation or a personal relationship with the accused) is applicable here."

The shooting, which took place Nov. 30 of 2021, claimed the lives of Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling. 

For more on the ruling, read the attached documents below: