Michigan school shooter’s mother blames her husband in trial testimony
During her trial, Jennifer Crumbley, a mother from the US accused of negligence in failing to prevent her son from carrying out a fatal school shooting, has attempted to shift the blame onto her husband.
In her defense testimony, Mrs. Crumbley asserted to the jury that the firearm purchased by her and her husband for their son was not within her sphere of responsibility.
Mrs. Crumbley is the inaugural parent to face trial in connection with a school shooting perpetrated by a juvenile. Her husband, James, is undergoing a separate trial on identical charges.
If convicted, both could be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years behind bars.
Their son is currently serving a life sentence for fatally shooting four classmates at Oxford High School in Michigan in 2021 when he was 15 years old.
Mrs. Crumbley, aged 45, took the stand on the sixth day of the trial, which occurred on Thursday.
She became the first witness to present a defense testimony subsequent to the prosecution calling upon 21 witnesses. Prosecutors are scheduled to cross-examine her on Friday.
During her testimony, Mrs. Crumbley detailed how her husband took their son to a gun store the day after Thanksgiving to purchase a handgun as a gift for him.
She expressed discomfort with assuming responsibility for securely storing the firearm, which was equipped with a cable lock, she recounted.
“It was more his thing, so I let him handle that,” she said. “I didn’t feel comfortable putting the lock thing on it. I’d just rather not, and let him do it.”
A few days later, her husband removed the lock so she could take her son to a gun range, she said, describing it as a fun day.
The lock’s key was kept in a beer stein displayed in the kitchen, and her husband hid the gun in their bedroom. She said she did not know that her son knew where it was kept.
During the attacker’s trial last year, his attorneys argued he was neglected by his parents and suffered from mental illness. But he later said his parents did not know about his plans and that he was solely responsible.
His lawyers have said that he will invoke his right to remain silent if called to testify at his parents’ trials.
Mrs Crumbley’s legal team says she could not have predicted her son’s actions and she is being unfairly blamed.
Earlier in the day, prosecutors presented text messages and diary entries from her son that they said showed he was having hallucinations.
“I have zero help for my mental problems and it’s causing me to shoot up the … school,” he wrote in one diary entry.
“I want help, but my parents don’t listen to me so I can’t get any help,” he wrote in another entry submitted by prosecutors.
One of the prosecutors’ key arguments is that the parents did not help their child get the mental health support he needed.
Prosecutor Marc Keast told the jury last week: “Jennifer Crumbley didn’t pull the trigger that day, but she is responsible for those deaths.”
On the day of the shooting, school officials found the boy with disturbing drawings.
His parents were called to the school to review the drawings but left after concluding the meeting early because they said they needed to return to work.
None of the adults checked the boy’s backpack, where he stored the gun, and he was sent back to class.
