Jennifer Crumbley's trial off to an emotional start — just as expected

Jennifer Crumbley's involuntary manslaughter trial got off to an emotional and dramatic start Thursday, giving jurors a lot to process on their first day hearing testimony in the historic case involving the Oxford school shooter's mom.

The mother broke down crying in the courtroom after seeing — for the first time — video of her son roaming the halls of Oxford High School with a gun in his hand.

The lead prosecutor and defense lawyer got into a heated argument over the mom's meltdown, and butted heads the rest of the day.

The judge had to excuse the jury so the mom could compose herself.

"It is horrific," Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews said of the shooting video after excusing the jury. "Everyone needs to take a deep breath."

As expected, the first day of testimony in this unprecedented case involved gut-wrenching testimony, painful images, passionate arguments and a surprising development: Jennifer Crumbley will take the stand in her own defense later in the trial. She and her husband, James, are charged with involuntary manslaughter for buying their son the gun that he used in the shooting, and not telling school officials about that gun when given the chance.

'They were murdered in an act of terror'

James Crumbley goes to trial in March. Their son, Ethan, who was 15 at the time of the shooting on Nov. 30, 2021, pleaded guilty to all his crimes and was sentenced to life in prison last month without the possibility of parole.

The day started with opening statements from Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast, who began by introducing the victims to the jury. He flashed their photos on a screen, and read their names: Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17.

"They weren’t in a car crash. They weren’t sick. They were murdered in an act of terror" by the defendant's son, Keast said. "Jennifer Crumbley didn't pull the trigger that day, but she is responsible for their deaths."

Keast told jurors how the day after her son walked out of the store with his new gun, Jennifer Crumbley made a social media post about going to the shooting range with her son, and that the gun was her son's early Christmas present.

Keast said the evidence will prove that on the day of the shooting, she was “given the opportunity to prevent these murders from ever happening. Instead, she chose to do nothing.” This happened on the morning of the shooting, he said, when the parents were called to the school over a gun their son had drawn on a math worksheet.

“Apparently, that raised an alarm with Jennifer Crumbley,” Keast said, telling jurors that school officials sent a photo of the drawing to the mom.

Jennifer Crumbley then messaged her husband through Facebook "Emergency," she wrote in the message, and attached the picture of the gun their son had drawn.

Her husband responded: “My god, WTF.”

Keast told jurors that when the couple arrived in the counselor's office, where they met their son, they were cold. School officials expected them to take their son home and set up an appointment with a mental health professional, but they didn’t. Keast said Jennifer Crumbley abruptly ended the meeting after just over 11 minutes.

"They didn't say anything about the fact that that firearm (in the drawing) is identical to the Sig Sauer 9mm (they had bought him.) They didn't mention anything about how the gun was stored. They didn’t mention anything about his increased mental distress. … They didn't embrace him,” Keast said.“They didn't stop by the house to look for the gun. You’ll learn never once did they ask their son, ‘Where's the gun?'

“They did nothing.”

That's gross negligence, he said; that's why she's responsible for these deaths.

Defense says the charge is a Band-Aid for social ills

Defense attorney Shannon Smith, in her opening statement, said "the prosecution (is) trying to put a Band-Aid on a problem … it's an effort to make the community feel better … it's an effort to send a message to gun owners.

"None of those problems will be changed by charging Jennifer Crumbley with involuntary manslaughter," she said.

She urged the jury to be mindful that the prosecution's evidence will frighten and alarm, but it's about the shooter, not the mother.

"She didn't have it on her radar in any way that her son would ever take a gun into a school, that her son would shoot people," Smith said. "Jennifer Crumbley did the best she could as a mother to a child who grew up as a teenager, and had no way to know what would happen."

She told jurors that Jennifer Crumbley was the kind of mother who took her son to soccer practice, doctor's appointments, monitored his homework on a website for school parents, and texted her husband repeatedly when their son was late home from school.

"She is not a perfect parent," Smith said. "The prosecution has very carefully pulled out a sliver of evidence from a forest of trees to try to convince that there was something wrong with Ethan and that his mom should have known."

At the school, Smith said, counselors told her the shooter was of no risk to anyone, Smith said, contending that school officials gave her the option of leaving Ethan in school.

"The prosecution has grossly misconstrued facts in this case," she said, telling the jury that it will hear from Jennifer Crumbley later in the trial.

"She will tell you that when she saw the materials in this case, she learned that her son had not been her son for months, that he had been manipulating her, that he had been sending alarming text messages to other people," Smith said. "You will hear that the school never advised Mrs. Crumbley of problematic issues that if she heard about, she would have done something about it."

Oxford teacher who was shot: 'I locked eyes with him'

Teacher Molly Darnell told jurors how she was in her classroom on the day of the shooting and heard students screaming in the hallway. She saw students running out of the school.

"I heard three things quickly together," Darnell said, her voice shaking. "They were the sound of like three loud pops that I could have mistaken for lockers closing."

The principal came over the PA and said the school was going into lockdown. Her door was still open, so she moved to shut her door.

"I immediately pull it shut," she said, noting she then tried to install a night lock, but in her peripheral vision, through a glass partition, she saw someone dressed in dark, oversized clothing.

"I locked eyes with him," she said, struggling to maintain composure. "I realize he's raising a gun to me."

She felt a burn like hot water in her left arm. She then turned around and saw a bullet hole through her office window.

She then crawled on her hands and knees, installed the night lock and barricaded the door with a rolling cart.

"The only thing I could think was he's gonna come back and finish what he wanted to do," Darnell said, noting she then crouched down behind a cabinet.

Then she texted her husband: "I love you. Active shooter."

She started feeling blood dripping down her arm. She told jurors how she put a tourniquet on her arm. Her daughter texted her from a neighboring school district.

"Mom, are you OK?"

I responded: "I love you. I'm sheltered in place."

She did not tell her daughter that she had been shot.

The defense did not cross-examine her.

Parents of two of the victims sat expressionless in the courtroom during the testimony, which they heard over the summer during a hearing to determine whether Ethan Crumbley was eligible as a juvenile to be sentenced to life without parole. Those attending Thursday included Craig Shilling, whose son, Justin, was killed in a bathroom execution style; and Steve St. Juliana, whose daughter, Hana, also was killed.

Prosecutor and defense lawyer go off on each other

Crumbley started weeping loudly when Assistant Principal Kristy Gibson-Marshall mentioned her son's name during her testimony, about encountering the gunman in the hallway and asking him whether he was OK.

Jennifer Crumbley's cries turned to sobs when video footage was played of the shooting scene. She hadn't seen it before. It showed Gibson-Marshall standing in a hallway, kids running past her to flee the building, and then the assistant principal venturing down a hallway, where she encountered shooting victim Tate Myre.

Then it showed Ethan Crumbley coming down the hallway with his gun.

Jennifer Crumbley sat at the defense table, her face in her hands, crying inconsolably as her lawyer rubbed her back. Smith asked for a break so her client could regain her composure. The judge excused the jury, and then Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald raised an objection, and went off on the defense lawyer and the judge.

McDonald maintained that it was unfair to ask the prosecution not to show emotion, but to let the defense attorney and her client "sob" in the courtroom. Judge Matthews said she did not instruct the prosecution — or anyone in the courtroom — not to show emotion, but asked that people leave the courtroom if they became overwhelmed and potentially disruptive.

Then Smith went off on McDonald, saying neither she nor her client had seen the video before.

"It's horrific," Smith yelled. "We're doing our best."

"It is horrific," Matthews agreed, later adding: "Everyone needs to take a deep breath."

The judge ordered a 10-minute recess.

Gun store manager tells about the father and son visit

Cammy Back, the office manager at a store that sells firearms, testified about the day that James Crumbley came to her store with his teenage son and bought a gun. It was Black Friday, Nov. 26, 2021 — four days before the shooting.

Under cross-examination by Smith, Back also testified that Jennifer Crumbley’s name is not on the receipt or a required federal form.

Asked whether a gun would be sold to a 15-year-old who walked into the store, Back said: “Absolutely not.”

Prosecutors showed receipts and federal forms filled out by James Crumbley listing himself as the buyer of the 9mm Sig Sauer SP2022, which he bought for $519.35 and days later was used by his son in the massacre.

Back said when James Crumbley came into the store that day, he “went right to that gun.”

On cross-examination, the defense asked whether it’s common for parents to bring a child to a gun shop.

Back said yes.

The defense then asked whether there’s anything illegal about a minor being in a gun store, and whether the store has a sign on the front that says no minors allowed.

No, Back answered.

Tempers flare again during testimony of federal agent

Brett Brandon, an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent, was the fourth witness to testify.

McDonald asked him to explain how the gun used in the school shooting was deadlier than the other guns owned by the shooter's father.

According to the agent's testimony and that of a gun store manager, James Crumbley purchased three guns in the year of the shooting: the one he gifted to his son, and two others in the months before that.

But those two guns, McDonald asked the witness to explain, could not fire as many bullets as the murder weapon.

At this point Jennifer Crumbley's lawyer objected to the prosecution's line of questioning, arguing, "There's no way this prosecutor can prove that this gun was bought to kill people … there's no way that my client knows anything about the deadly capability of this gun," Shannon Smith said.

The judge concluded the prosecutor was being argumentative, so McDonald moved on — though said she would prove later why the questioning was relevant.

Brandon also testified that a gun safe in the house, which held two other guns that James Crumbley had purchased in June 2021, had its lock code set at 0-0-0.

During Brandon's testimony, jurors saw multiple videos of the Crumbley family's outings to shooting ranges, and videos of Ethan Crumbley firing a gun at those ranges. The videos were taken by James Crumbley and sent to his wife via Facebook Messenger.

Jurors also saw a video that the shooter took of himself in the family home, loading a magazine into a gun, then chambering a round. He texted the video to a friend, and wrote: "My dad left it out. So I thought why not."

The mother's lawyer objected to the video, arguing it did not show anyone getting hurt, offered no proof that anyone was hurt, nor that the teenager was home alone — which he wasn't.

According to the agent's testimony, both parents were home when their son made this video.

Jurors also saw an Instagram post of the shooter holding his new gun, stating: "Just got my new beauty today. SIG SAUER 9mm. 😍 Ask any questions I will answer."

The prosecution is using the videos in an effort to show that Jennifer Crumbley knew her son was fascinated with guns and that she supported his hobby, bragged about it on social media and took part in it. This testimony is meant to help bolster the prosecution's claim that the Crumbleys ignored their son's mental health troubles, but fed his obsession with guns instead.

'He was definitely smiling when he was shooting the firearm'

While cross-examining Brandon, Smith asked whether any federal or state law prohibits a parent and minor from shooting a gun at a shooting range.

No, the federal agent answered.

Smith asked whether any federal or state law requires guns to be stored or locked in a home.

No, the federal agent answered.

Smith also asked Brandon about what happened with the gun on Nov. 27, 2021, after Jennifer Crumbley and her son came home from the gun range. Under questioning, Brandon agreed that he did not have personal knowledge about who took the gun from the vehicle back into the house, whether the gun was brought into the home or whether a lock was placed on the firearm.

Brandon said it appeared to him that the way Jennifer Crumbley operated the gun, it would have been difficult for her to put the lock on. Smith said Jennifer Crumbley “appears like she doesn’t know what she’s doing with a gun, right?” Brandon agreed.

Smith said there is “no doubt the shooter has a lot more knowledge about this gun than Mrs. Crumbley does.” Brandon said: “Yes, that’s fair.”

Referencing a social media post Jennifer Crumbley made about the trip to the gun range, calling it a mother-son day, Smith said, “you don’t know much about this family, but mother-son day implies this is mother and son spending time together. … It’s obviously Mrs. Crumbley is doing something with her son he enjoys, correct?”

“Yes, he was definitely smiling when he was shooting the firearm,” Brandon testified.

Testimony resumes at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jennifer Crumbley involuntary manslaughter trial off to emotional start