You were watching the last time James Crumbley and his
wife saw their son,
Ethan. I love you. I love you.
I love you. I love you.
Ethan killed four students and wounded seven other people at
his Michigan high school in
2021. His mother, Jennifer, was found guilty on 4 counts
of involuntary manslaughter.
It's the first time ever that a parent has been
held directly responsible for a mass shooting committed by their
child.
Now his father, James is on trial facing the same
charges.
He has pleaded not guilty.
There was a lot of video that was entered into
evidence in
Jennifer's trial and we fully expect that that is going
to come into James trial.
Here are five key pieces of evidence.
One, Ethan's experience with a gun prosecutors brought up during
Jennifer's trial.
The way Ethan held a gun.
When I first saw it,
I immediately said to others in the room that I
thought that the shooter had been to a shooting range
or had had training and firearms.
His posture, his demeanor, his stance.
They realized that he had learned how to shoot from
someone,
and prosecutors are going to point the finger at James.
In September, James took Ethan to a shooting range where
they rented a 9mm pistol.
A jury potentially is not going to look at this
as incriminating,
but prosecutors will build the building blocks of what they
say is gross negligence.
2 Who bought the gun?
Ethan wanted a 9mm gun.
He kept asking his parents,
and they would tell him it's expensive.
So on Black Friday, James said to Ethan,
let's go back to the gun store and see if
they're having any Black Friday sales.
So they did. And here is the result.
You were looking at the receipt for the
9mm Sig Sauer gun that was used for that mass
shooting four days later.
And there is nothing in the evidence that shows that
James had any idea what he wanted to do with
that gun.
But James is the registered owner,
and prosecutors are going to have that as Exhibit A
because he was the one that owned it.
It was his responsibility, The care,
control and custody of that Gun
3A school meeting about a math worksheet.
Four days after getting that gun,
James and Jennifer Crumbley were summoned to Oxford High School
because Ethan was making disturbing drawings on a math worksheet.
You see a gun, you see a figure.
The thoughts won't stop. Help me.
Blood everywhere. And he also says the world is dead.
The counselor was really concerned that Ethan could harm himself,
and the counselor wanted him to get mental health treatment
as soon as possible.
Now, the counselor didn't require that Ethan be taken out
of school right then,
and Ethan wanted to go back to class.
And James and Jennifer Crumbly never told school officials that
they had just gotten Ethan an early Christmas present of
a gun.
You can see Ethan Crumbly leaving that
counselor's office. He's got his red backpack inside.
That red backpack is the
9mm gun that he just got four days ago.
He goes to class and less than two hours later
emerges from the bathroom and starts firing at his classmates.
James and Jennifer left right behind him.
Very short meeting, about 10-11 minutes and they go back
to their jobs.
Four. Was the gun properly secured?
Right after the mass shooting James Crumbly got an emergency
alert on his phone from Oxford High School.
Active shooter that occurred to him.
He needed to go home to see if that 9mm
gun was still there.
This is a picture that went into evidence in Jennifer
Crumbly's trial.
This is James and Jennifer's bed.
The gun is gone and the bullet box is empty.
911, what's the location of your emergency?
Within minutes of this discovery,
he calls 911. I need an officer to come to
my house right away.
Please. He is frantic. He is emotional and he turns
his son in.
I think my son took the gun.
I don't know if it's him.
I don't know what's going on.
I'm really freaking out. Prosecutors will be able to really
focus in on James state of mind.
They will argue that he knew his son was capable
of perpetrating violence on others and that's why he went
home to see that that gun was there.
But one thing is fact,
and it helps the defense.
James immediately called 911. He made sure law enforcement knew
that his son could be the shooter.
Right after the shooting, Ethan was arrested.
He was taken down to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office,
followed shortly after by his parents right here on the
seat.
Please, what James says here about the gun could be
very important for the defense.
It was hidden in our armoire
in the case, and bullets were hidden in a completely
different spot.
We still don't know how Ethan got possession of that
gun.
It's a pivotal question because if in fact the gun
was hidden,
but Ethan alone found that gun and took it to
school,
that place has a lot of responsibility on Ethan because
the parents did what they could.
If the gun was out in the open,
then it changes everything. Five the arrest of James and
Jennifer Crumbly.
Police were looking for the crumblies after they failed to
appear at their initial arraignment.
After a manhunt, they were arrested at a friend's art
studio where they were staying.
There is evidence the crumblies had planned,
though, to turn themselves in the very next day.
What's your name? James.
James Boy.
Prosecutors will argue this is evidence of consciousness of guilt.
They wanted to flee the jurisdiction.
They had everything they needed,
and the Canadian border was pretty close.
The defense will argue not at all.
They were getting threats on their lives.
They wanted to make sure they were safe and media
was surrounding their home.
They had to find another place to stay.
James Crumbly is innocent until proven guilty,
but his defense attorney believes that he has already been
found guilty because the Oxford community is still so filled
with emotion.
This trial will be in the same courtroom as Jennifer
Crumbly's trial,
and she was found guilty just a matter of weeks
ago.