Prosecutor goes off on Crumbleys: 'They're concerned only about themselves'

The Oakland County prosecutor lambasted the parents of the Oxford school shooting suspect in a series of court filings Thursday, portraying them as selfish people who are trying to blame her and the media for their shortcomings.

"They are concerned only about themselves," Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald wrote in a filing, later adding: "they cared more about their horses than keeping the community safe from their son."

McDonald was responding to defense claims that she has gone out of her way to taint the image of the parents. The Crumbleys are charged with involuntary manslaughter for their alleged roles in the mass killing. Prosecutors say they  gave their troubled son access to a gun, failed to notify the school about the gun when they were summoned over his troubling behavior  — he had drawn a picture of a gun and blood with the words "The thoughts won't stop, help me" — and insisted he be returned to class rather than go home.

Lawyers for James and Jennifer Crumbley filed a series of blistering motions last month, accusing the prosecution of — among other things — releasing too much information to the media, bad-mouthing their clients, disclosing irrelevant information about their clients' personal lives and lying about certain details of the case.

McDonald denied the allegations, arguing the Crumbleys are self-absorbed people who can't handle "the truth."

More: Judge keeps Oxford school shooting suspect Ethan Crumbley, 16, in jail

More: What the Crumbleys don't want the jury to see in the Oxford school shooting trial

"They fail to recognize that they are not the only ones with rights. ... Yes, defendants have important rights. But so do the victims and the public," McDonald argued in court documents. "The public has a right to know what happened and try to prevent future shootings."

Her filing continued:

"Above all else, the public and the victims have a right to the truth."

And, she added: "The truth is also inconvenient" for the Crumbleys.

"The truth will not set the defendants free," McDonald wrote. "The defendants don't focus on the facts, or the law, or their son, or the victims, or their own conduct. Instead, the defendants focus on the prosecutor and the media attention their son created and they exacerbated."

Prosecutor: Trial should stay in Oakland County

McDonald also objected to moving the trial out of Oakland County, or having jurors brought in from elsewhere, as the defense has requested.

At issue for the defense is whether or not the Crumbleys can get a fair trial in Oakland County, where their 16-year-old son, Ethan, is charged with killing four high school students and injuring  six students and a teacher  in  the Nov. 30 shooting at Oxford High School.

James and Jennifer Crumbley have argued there's no way they'll get a fair shake given all the negative publicity about their case. Perhaps more problematic, their lawyers have argued, is the devastating impact the mass killing has had on their community — from which the jurors would come.

McDonald disagrees.

"The prosecution believes strongly that this case should be tried in Oakland County and that the jury should hear all relevant evidence," McDonald said in a statement Thursday. "As stated in one of the responses, the defendants have important rights, but so do victims and the public. Victims have a right to a zealous advocate on their behalf.

“The responses we filed today make clear that we will continue to be zealous advocates for all of the Oxford victims, and that we will not be distracted from that mission.”

Prosecutors have accused the Crumbleys of ignoring a mentally ill son who they allege was spiraling out of control. But instead of getting their son help, prosecutors have alleged, they bought him a gun and gave him easy access to it.

The defense maintains that the gun was locked in a secure place, and that Ethan Crumbley wrote in his journal that he had to figure out where his dad hid the gun.

Pot, booze, affairs

McDonald is also fighting to use as evidence information about the Crumbleys' personal lives that the parents maintain is irrelevant and prejudicial.

For example, prosecutors have alleged that the Crumbleys had affairs, drank heavily, kept a messy house and paid more attention to their horses than their son — all of which the defense argues is irrelevant to the case, and meant only to inflame the jurors.

McDonald disagrees, arguing all of these details offer context into the lives of two parents who, she alleges, failed to help a troubled son.

"The information they want out is relevant to a central issue in this case: whether (the parents) acted in a grossly negligent manner in ignoring the signs that (Ethan) was on a pathway to violence, failing to protect him from harming others ... and giving him an opportunity to engage in deadly violence by giving him access to a handgun used in the shooting."

A Nazi coin, journal, bird's head

The defense also wants to keep out of the trial numerous activities and items tied to their son, including Ethan Crumbley's internet searches for ammunition and information about school shootings, his text messages to a friend, his journal excerpts and a Nazi coin that was found in  his bedroom.

The defense argues much of that information is either irrelevant, inflammatory or hearsay.

But the prosecution wants to admit it all as evidence, arguing it offers more proof that the parents didn't monitor their son's activities. According to courtroom testimony, after the shooting, investigators found what prosecutors described as troubling evidence in the teen's bedroom: a shooting target on his bedroom wall, an empty bottle of booze and a Nazi coin. They also found a journal in his backpack, in which Ethan Crumbley wrote about his parents, his mental health struggles and plans to carry out a school shooting. Among the journal excerpts:

• "I have access to the gun and ammo."

• "I want help but my parents don't listen to me so I can't get any help."

• "I have zero HELP for my mental problems and it's causing me to SHOOT UP THE F------ SCHOOL."

The parents said they didn't know about the journal, and want it kept out.

The prosecution argues there's a lot the parents should have known about had they paid more attention to their son.

For example, Ethan Crumbley is accused of killing baby birds, recording it and keeping a baby bird's head in a jar in his bedroom — all of which the parents said they didn't know about and want kept out of trial.

The prosecution argues the bird details are relevant, along with the text messages the teen  allegedly sent to a friend about his mental health problems, texting him things like: "I hear people talking to me," and "I actually asked my dad to take (me) to the doctor yesterday but he just gave me some pills and told me to suck it up."

"Warning signals were present and obvious," McDonald wrote. "The coin, and other tell-tale signs ... would have alerted them that they need to get help for their son."

Defense: Son was 'sole cause of harm'

The Crumbleys' lawyers have accused McDonald of using the case to advance her political career, arguing she has made too many media appearances about the case, including on "Good Morning America," CNN and local TV and radio outlets.

The defense last month asked  a judge to order McDonald and her team to stop publicly discussing their case, stop holding news conferences and stop "revealing evidence" secured by police.

The Crumbleys' lawyers also have asked the judge to dismiss the case altogether,  stressing they never knew their son would carry out a mass shooting, and that the prosecution can never prove that.

Perhaps more notably, the Crumbleys have maintained that their son was the "sole cause of harm" in this tragedy.

The prosecution disagrees.

"The Crumbleys' gross negligence is what created the circumstances necessary for their son to commit the shooting, and their son's actions flowed directly from their gross negligence," McDonald wrote in court filings, arguing the charges against the parents should stick.

Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the mass shooting, is facing first-degree murder and terrorism charges.

All three Crumbleys are being held in the Oakland County Jail pending the outcome of their cases. They have each pleaded not guilty.

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Prosecutor Karen McDonald goes off on James, Jennifer Crumbley