Prosecutor urges judge: Don't let Crumbleys 'sanitize' the Oxford school shooting trial

The prosecution says James and Jennifer Crumbley are trying to "sanitize" the horrifying details of the Oxford High School shooting that was carried out by their son, and distance themselves "from the devastation" they wrought.

And it's asking a judge to put an end to it.

In a Friday court filing, the prosecution urged Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews to allow at least two adult witnesses to the deadly school shooting to testify at the Crumbleys' upcoming trials, including an assistant principal who gave mouth-to-mouth to a dying boy who had been shot in the head, and said it took her months to get the taste of blood out of her mouth.

The Crumbleys, who are facing involuntary manslaughter charges for the deaths of four students killed in the Nov. 30, 2021 massacre, want the judge to exclude the assistant principal's testimony, and details about how the victims were killed: two were shot execution-style. They argue that what happened inside the school that day is irrelevant to their case and could unfairly inflame the jury's passions.

The prosecution disagrees.

"Testimony from witnesses who observe a homicide is used in every prosecution of every homicide case across the state and across the country, and this case should be no different," Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Marc Keast writes in the filing, stressing: "This is a homicide case; evidence of the killings is unquestionably relevant and admissible."

Prosecutors say James and Jennifer Crumbley, by their "own gross negligence," caused the deaths of four students by ignoring a troubled son and buying him a gun instead of getting him help — the same gun he used in the shooting. The four students who died were Hana St. Juliana, 14; Tate Myre, 16; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17. Seven others were injured, including a teacher, who the prosecution intends to use as a witness.

According to the prosecution's latest filing, the jury needs to hear from the witnesses who saw firsthand what happened inside the school that day. To the chagrin of the Crumbleys, who filed back-to-back motions trying to block that witness testimony, the prosecution wants jurors to hear from Molly Darnell, a teacher who was shot in the arm, just 6 inches from her heart; and assistant principal Kristy Gibson-Marshall, who tried to breathe life back into a student after a bullet had exited his eye.

According to court records, the prosecution also plans to show jurors school surveillance video of the shooting itself. The defense has objected, though Judge Matthews issued an order Friday stating she would let video footage of the shooting be shown at trial.

The prosecution, meanwhile, has accused the Crumbleys of "glossing over the shooting itself."

"Jennifer Crumbley would like to distance herself from the devastation that her gross negligence wrought," Keast wrote, adding "But she is not entitled to a trial sanitized of any details about how these students were killed."

The prosecutor wrote the exact same thing about James Crumbley in a separate filing, as the parents are facing separate trials.

As for the Crumbleys' claims that the gruesome details will inflame and potentially confuse the jurors about the legal elements of their case, the prosecutor wrote:

"Testimony about how the four victims were killed is undoubtedly damaging to the (Crumbleys) ... but that does not make it unfairly prejudicial," Keast writes, adding: "The evidence will not confuse the jury. Quite the opposite, this evidence will give the jury a more complete picture of how the deaths occurred."

Keast also noted that while the Crumbleys are trying to stop the prosecution from having shooting witnesses testify, the parents' lawyers plan to call witnesses who were in school that day to testify about their observations and interactions with their son.

"The (defendants) want to shift blame to teachers and counselors by limiting witness testimony to events leading up the shooting, and then glossing over the shooting itself," Keast writes.

The prosecution has long argued that the Crumbleys, more than anyone else, could have prevented the shooting had they disclosed to school officials — when they were summoned over his troubling behavior — that they had just bought their son a gun. On the morning of the shooting, the gunman, Ethan Crumbley, had drawn on a math worksheet a picture of a gun, a bleeding body and the words: "The thoughts won't stop. Help me."

After seeing the troubling drawing, the parents said they would get their son help in the coming days, and asked whether he could be returned to class because they needed to get back to their jobs. They never mentioned the gun they had bought him four days earlier as an early Christmas present.

Ethan Crumbley went back to class. Two hours later, he emerged from a bathroom and opened fire.

A hearing on the witness testimony issue is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday before Judge Matthews.

Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the killings, pleaded guilty to all his crimes and was sentenced last month to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

James and Jennifer Crumbley, who have been jailed on $500,000 bond each since the shooting, face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Prosecution: Crumbleys want to 'sanitize' the Oxford school shooting