WARNING: GRAPHIC
The mother of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley is asking a Michigan court to exclude evidence of her son’s alleged abuse of baby birds from her own criminal trial.
Jennifer Crumbley and her husband, James Crumbley, are charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter each after Ethan fatally shot four students and injured seven others at Oxford High in November 2021, when he was 15 years old.
“The ‘bird evidence’ is so extremely disgusting, sickening, and appalling that its admission would certainly inflame the passions of a jury. The jury will undoubtedly judge Mrs. Crumbley for the heinous acts of her son, which she knew nothing about,” attorney Shannon Smith wrote in a motion to exclude evidence filed Monday.
Prosecutors and attorneys representing shooting victims have said in court filings that in May 2021, months before the shooting, Ethan recorded himself on video torturing and killing animals, including a bird. Attorney Ven Johnson alleged Ethan severed the bird’s head and kept it in a jar.
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Ethan Robert Crumbley, left, charged with first-degree murder in a high school shooting, poses in a jail booking photograph taken at the Oakland County Jail in Pontiac, Mich. His parents also face charges tied to his actions. (Oakland County Sheriff)
In November 2021, “two weeks before the shooting, E.C. brought a severed bird’s head to school in a jar and placed it in the boys’ bathroom,” Johnson stated in a federal filing, alleging that Oakland County School District staff ignored the reports from students who saw the bird’s head.
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County prosecutors said in February 2022 that Ethan expressed “delight” in killing a family of baby birds and found “joy” in hearing them squeal as they died.
Ethan Crumbley attends a hearing at Oakland County circuit court in Pontiac, Mich., Feb. 22, 2022. (David Guralnick/Pool via The Detroit New via AP)
In 2022, the Oxford County court ruled that certain irrelevant evidence could be excluded from the cases of Jennifer and James Crumbley, which have since been separated. The court reserved ruling, however, on the bird evidence.
Jennifer’s defense is now asking that the bird evidence be excluded from her trial because her lawyers say there is no evidence suggesting she and her husband were aware of their son’s crimes against baby birds.
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“It is clear that the shooter has mutilated baby birds on more than one occasion, texted a friend details about mutilating birds, video recorded himself doing so, and photographed vile and disgusting video of his actions,” the motion filed Monday states. “The evidence makes it clear that the shooter intentionally hid all of the ‘bird evidence’ from his parents.”
An Oakland County judge in February 2022 denied the parents of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley’s appeal. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
The closest proximity that parents would have had to the bird evidence — if any — is claims from Ethan that he “kept the bird head hidden in his room for months prior to putting it at the school,” but neither parent saw it, Smith said in the motion to exclude evidence.
The bird evidence was “certainly relevant” in the shooter’s case, Smith said, but not his parents’ cases.
“[U]nless they had anything to do with shooting, collecting, torturing, and saving dead birds or knew their son was doing these things, this evidence is irrelevant and far too prejudicial,” she wrote.
James and Jennifer Crumbley appear in court, Rochester Hills, Mich., Feb. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
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James and Jennifer allegedly purchased a gun for their son just before the school shooting. Jennifer Crumbley said in a social media post that the gun was a Christmas present for Ethan.
The parents are also accused of going to Oxford the morning of the shooting and refusing to take their son home despite complaints from the school counselor’s office that he made disturbing drawings in class.
An Oakland County jury found Ethan, now 17, guilty earlier this year of killing 16-year-old Tate Myre, 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin and 17-year-old Justin Shilling. Judge Kwame Rowe ruled in September that Ethan could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his crimes.
