A Michigan jury foreperson who presided over the criminal trial for Jennifer Crumbley, mother of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, said the 45-year-old woman could have done “many little things” to prevent the 2021 massacre.
The jury reached a verdict Tuesday after 11 hours of deliberation, ultimately finding Crumbley guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter for her role in the shooting that left four students dead and seven injured on Nov. 30, 2021.
“Once we went into deliberation, it became clear that she wasn’t a super reliable witness in this case,” the foreperson identified only as Alex told the “Today” show of Crumbley’s own testimony in her case.
At one point during her testimony, Crumbley said she “wouldn’t have” done anything differently if given the chance.
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“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, adding that she wishes her son would have “killed” her and her husband, James Crumbley, “instead.”
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“It was repeated a lot in the deliberation room,” Alex said of Crumbley’s testimony that she would not have changed her actions. “I think that it was very upsetting to hear. I think that there are many small things that could have been done to prevent this.”
Alex also said she felt Crumbley “didn’t separate her son from the gun enough” to stop the mass shooting.
“I think the responsibility of securing the weapon then falls on her,” she said.
Oakland County prosecutors said Crumbley wrote a Facebook post saying she had purchased a gun for their son, who was 15 at the time, as a “new Xmas present” days prior to the shooting.
Video footage presented in court also showed Crumbley taking her son to a shooting range days before the shooting. The clip appears to show mother and son both wearing ear protection and shooting at targets. At one point, they even practiced in the same firing lane.
Photos showed shooting range targets with bullet holes hung up in Ethan’s messy bedroom.
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Additionally, prosecutors said James and Jennifer met with Ethan and his school counselor at Oxford High the morning of the shooting after he created a disturbing drawing showing images of a gun and the words, “Help me,” “Blood everywhere” and “My life is useless.” The parents refused to take him home.
Later on, Ethan would take a gun out of his backpack and kill Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Madisyn Baldwin, 17.
James Crumbley is also facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter but is being tried separately in March.
