Connect with us

Midwest

Trial for Michigan school shooter's mother: Revelations from testimony, evidence in historic case

Published

on

Trial for Michigan school shooter's mother: Revelations from testimony, evidence in historic case

Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, gave hours of testimony this week in her criminal trial related to the mass shooting her son committed in 2021.

Jennifer Crumbley and her husband, James Crumbley, who is being tried separately, are each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in Ethan Crubley’s killing of four students  — Tate Myre, 16, Justin Shilling, 16, Hana St. Juliana, 14, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17 — at Oxford High Nov. 30, 2021.

“As a parent, you spend your whole life trying to protect your child from other dangers,” Jennifer Crumbley said on the witness stand Thursday while answering questions from the defense. “You never would think you’d have to protect your child from harming someone else. That’s what blew my mind. That was the hardest thing I had to stomach is that my child harmed and killed other people.”

She stopped short of calling herself a victim, saying the true victims in the case are the families of the deceased, but she added that she has lost “a lot” as a result of the shooting and her son’s actions. Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shootings, pleaded guilty to his crimes last year and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

MICHIGAN SCHOOL SHOOTER ETHAN CRUMBLEY’S FATHER CALLS HIM ‘PERFECT KID’ IN INTERVIEW WITH POLICE

Advertisement

Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Michigan school shooter, took the stand Thursday in her trial for involuntary manslaughter after the jury heard the teenager blamed his parents, including his father, James Crumbley, for not getting him help before the 2021 attack that killed four students. (Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press via AP, Pool)

“Of course, I look back after all this happened, and I have asked myself if I would have done anything differently. I wouldn’t have.” Jennifer said.

“I wish he would have killed us instead.”

— Jennifer Crumbley

Jennifer and her husband are accused of illegally purchasing a gun for their 15-year-old son, which he used in the school shooting. They are also accused of ignoring his pleas for help, and prosecutors have presented text messages and emails from Jennifer Crumbley in court to prove she did not take her son’s complaints seriously.

Ethan Robert Crumbley, left, was charged with first-degree murder in a high school shooting. His parents were also charged after the shooting. (Oakland County Sheriff)

Advertisement

James and Jennifer are the first parents to be charged in a school shooting.

MICHIGAN SCHOOL SHOOTER’S MOTHER JENNIFER CRUMBLEY CALLED SON AN ‘OOPSIE BABY,’ WITNESS SAYS

“There were a couple of times when Ethan expressed anxiety over taking tests,” she testified Thursday. “Anxiety about what he was going to do after high school. College? Military? But not at the level where I felt he needed to see a psychiatrist or a mental health professional.”

Jennifer Crumbley is being tried on four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the four students killed by her son, Ethan Crumbley, in 2021.  (Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press via AP, Pool)

Jennifer broke down Thursday while watching a video of the shooting played in court.

Advertisement

She also answered questions from the state on Friday. Prosecutors suggested she could have stopped the shooting before it happened when she arrived at Oxford High on the morning of Nov. 30, 2021, to meet with school counselors after Ethan was caught scrawling disturbing notes in class.

MICHIGAN MOM ON TRIAL FOR SON’S DEADLY SHOOTING MASSACRE RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT PARENT CULPABILITY IN SHOOTINGS

His notes included an image of a gun and the phrases “Help me,” “Blood everywhere” and “My life is useless,” along with a drawing of a gun.

James and Jennifer Crumbley met with their son and school leaders the morning of the shooting after a teacher caught Ethan Crumbley drawing disturbing images in class. (Oakland County)

“You could have been with him,” Oakland County assistant prosecutor Marc Keast said Friday.

Advertisement

OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTER’S MOTHER ASKS TO DISMISS 3 WITNESSES, ‘GRUESOME’ EVIDENCE THAT COULD ANGER JURY

“I could have, yes,” Jennifer Crumbley testified.

Jennifer Crumbley, 45, is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Nov. 30, 2021, attack on Oxford High School in Michigan. (Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press via AP, Pool)

“And you didn’t,” Keast said.

Instead of taking their son home, prosecutors alleged, Jennifer and her husband left him at school and went about their day. Ethan later took a gun from his backpack and shot a total of 11 people, four of whom died.

Advertisement

MICHIGAN SCHOOL SHOOTER ETHAN CRUMBLEY SENTENCED TO LIFE AFTER ADDRESSING COURT: ‘I AM A REALLY BAD PERSON’

Prosecutors also said Ethan Crumbley made a 19-minute video the day before the shooting describing what he was going to do in school the next day.

Video showing Jennifer Crumbley, left, with her son Ethan Crumbley at a gun range Nov. 27, 2021, for target practice, was shown in the courtroom during Jennifer Crumbley’s trial Jan. 25, 2024, in Pontiac, Mich.  (Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press via AP, Pool)

After the shooting, the Crumbleys allegedly fled Oxford and went to Detroit following some initial questioning from police. U.S. Marshals eventually apprehended them days later, on Dec. 4, 2021.

“The minute this shooting became public and ended up in the paper, in the media, Jennifer Crumbley started telling a story, and then she ran. And she didn’t run just because she was selfish. … She ran, and she started deleting text messages, and she started telling a different story because she knew she did something wrong,” Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said in her closing statements Friday.

Advertisement

“She wants you to believe she’s somebody she’s not.”

— Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald

Detectives who did a general sweep of the Crumbleys’ home in Oxford prior to obtaining search warrants testified in Jennifer’s case on Wednesday. Photos presented of the home in court showed a disheveled home before authorities conducted a search. The detective said the home was likely in its normal state when they conducted the initial sweep.

Texts are shown from Jennifer Crumbley, mother of Ethan Crumbley, a teenager accused of killing four students in a shooting at Oxford High School, to a co-worker as Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald speaks in court. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Photos showed shooting range targets with bullet holes hung up in Ethan’s messy bedroom. A second bedroom, which was also apparently the shooter’s room, also appeared messy, with items on the floor and on his bed.

ETHAN CRUMBLEY DETAILED PLAN TO ‘STALK, RAPE, TORTURE’ AND ‘KILL’ FEMALE CLASSMATE, PROSECUTORS SAY

Advertisement

Authorities found a gun safe on a shelf in James and Jennifer Crumbley’s bedroom. The safe had two guns inside. 

Inside Ethan Crumbley’s room, police found spent shell casings on a nightstand on the day of the shooting. They also found an empty bottle of whiskey beside his bed and knives on a shelving unit.

Jennifer Crumbley testified that her husband was generally in charge of keeping the family’s guns stored and secured inside their home. 

Jennifer’s defense attorney, Paulette Loftin, argued that the prosecution “cherry-picked evidence” to accuse Jennifer of involuntary manslaughter.

 

Advertisement

“It’s obvious real life is messy and complicated. And during this trial, I will openly admit that I’m a lawyer who messes up. … I am a human being, and so is Mrs. Crumbley, and that’s what this case is about. She’s not a perfect person or a perfect parent,” Loftin said in her closing statements

Loftin added that the shooting “was clearly not foreseeable to Mrs. Crumbley.”

Read the full article from Here

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

North Dakota

North Dakota Lands All-Conference ATH Brady Lee Out of Wisconsin

Published

on

North Dakota Lands All-Conference ATH Brady Lee Out of Wisconsin


North Dakota has been on a roll recently on the recruiting trail, trying to add to their 2027 recruiting class. They did just that when they received a commitment from La Crosse (WI) Aquinas High School athlete Brady Lee on April 16.

“I committed because the coaching staff, the school, and the community made it the right fit for me,” Lee said.

He received his first offer from the Fighting Hawks on November 22, when he was in Grand Forks for the South Dakota State game, and met with head coach Eric Schmidt beforehand. Despite the UND setback that day, they made quite the impression on him.

Advertisement

“Coach Schmidt had me meet him on the sideline before their game against South Dakota State, and he basically told me I did everything they asked and then he offered me. The game was great, I loved the energy of the Alerus Center, and I got to watch my former teammate, Shane Willenbring, who plays for SDSU. The coaches made me feel like a priority, even though it was a huge match-up.”

Advertisement

The coaching staff was one of the main reasons he committed, and he was able to catch up with Schmidt and safeties coach Keaton Wilkerson when he made it out to practice on March 28.

“I love Coach Wilk and Coach Schmidt. They have made it clear to me that they are in my corner. When I was there at practice, they and the rest of the staff showed nothing but love for me, and it felt like I was at home.”

Advertisement

Recapping last season

Last season, Lee, who plays safety and wide receiver, was named an All-Region selection by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association and an All-State Honorable Mention. He helped lead Aquinas to an 11-1 record and made it to the third round of the playoffs.

Advertisement

“The season went well. We had a tough loss at the end of the year, but we went 11-1. I had a slow start to the season, but things really picked up at the end of the year for me.”

Advertisement

That playoff loss still doesn’t sit well with Lee and the rest of the Blugolds, who still have it on their minds.

Advertisement

“The offseason has been very well. My teammates and I have been grinding, no doubt about it. We definitely have unfinished business.”

The recruiting process is a different experience for every prospect, and it certainly was for Lee. In addition to the Fighting Hawks, he also had offers from North Dakota State and South Dakota.

“My recruitment was overwhelming, but it was still a blessing. I had a bunch of visits and some offers, but nowhere felt like North Dakota.”

Lee adds to a North Dakota 2027 class, which is currently rated No. 79 nationally by 247Sports, and includes three-star quarterback Caden Gutzmer, Andrew McGee, Jonah Cummings, Ethan Howey, Carson Wilson, and Marlowe Strain.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Follow FCS Football Central on social media for ongoing coverage of FCS football, including on XFacebook, and YouTube.

Add us as a preferred source on Google





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Ohio

New mail-in ballot deadline as Ohio changes impact primary election

Published

on

New mail-in ballot deadline as Ohio changes impact primary election


play

  • Ohio’s primary election is on May 5, with polls open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
  • A new law requires mail-in absentee ballots to be received by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.
  • The previous four-day grace period for receiving mail-in ballots after Election Day has been eliminated.

Ohio’s primary election season has begun – Election Day is May 5. Ohio’s candidates are vying for spots on the ballot for the November midterm elections.

That’s nothing new, but Ohio made significant changes to mail-in voting that voters need to know about.

Advertisement

What has changed with Ohio’s mail-in ballots?

Voting through a mail-in ballot? There are some changes voters should know.

Signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine in December 2025, Senate Bill 293 requires absentee ballots to arrive by the close of polls to be counted, with an exception for military and overseas voters.

Any mail-in or absentee ballots must now be received before or on Election Day by 7:30 p.m. in order to be counted. There is no longer a 4-day grace period after Election Day.

The primary election is May 5, and the general election is Nov. 3, 2026.

So, when should you send your mail-in ballot in Ohio? The sooner the better. The U.S. Postal Service does not necessarily postmark your mail the day it is received unless you specifically request it. So, you ballot may not make it to a postal processing center until the day after you drop it in a mailbox.

Advertisement

When does Ohio early voting start? Key dates for early, absentee, mail-in votes

The primary election will be held May 5, 2026, according to this year’s voting schedule.

Early in‑person voting began on April 7, including the Saturday and Sunday before Election Day. Absentee voting by mail also began on April 7.

On Election Day, May 5, polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Absentee ballots must be received by your local board of elections by 7:30 p.m., per the voting schedule.

Ohio voter registration deadlines for 2026 elections

Ohioans must register or update their voter registration no later than 30 days before an election. The registration deadline for the May 5 primary was April 6, 2026.

Advertisement

Here are the upcoming voter registration deadlines in 2026:

  • April 6, 2026, for the May 5, 2026, primary and special election
  • October 5, 2026, for the November 3, 2026, general election

If you register or update your information after the deadline, the changes will apply for the next election.



Source link

Continue Reading

South Dakota

SDDOT reminds public not to put election signs on state highway rights-of-way

Published

on

SDDOT reminds public not to put election signs on state highway rights-of-way


SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The South Dakota Department of Transportation is reminding the public that political campaign and ballot-issue signs are not allowed on state highway rights-of-way.

“This time of year, it is common to find election signs placed along the state’s roadways,” says Craig Smith, Director of Operations.

“Illegal signs create a safety hazard and may distract motorists from seeing important regulatory or directional signage.”

The right-of-way is for official highway signage only.

Advertisement

Signs not required for traffic control, as per SDCL 31-28-14, are prohibited and will be removed by SDDOT crews.

Municipal ordinances on campaign signs do not take precedence over state jurisdiction over state highway rights-of-way.

You can learn more about sign placement guidelines here.

Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending