OXFORD, Mich. – The mother of the Oxford High School shooter on Monday agreed to allow an entire thread of text messages to be admitted into evidence without any redactions following a squabble over the messages amid her trial last week.
Jennifer Crumbley is standing trial for four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the four students murdered by her son on Nov. 30, 2021. Click here to watch the proceedings live.
The beginning of day three of her trial began Monday, Jan. 29 with the mother answering questions from her attorney and the prosecution regarding a series of Facebook Messenger messages between her and her husband. While the texts have been included in evidence and brought up in court amid the trial, the defense had requested certain messages be redacted.
The defense argued that some texts related to the parents’ use of alcohol should not be allowed, since Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews previously agreed to exclude such evidence from the trial to prevent unnecessary prejudice among the jury. After tension in the courtroom last week, defense attorney Shannon Smith agreed to go through the more than 2,000 pages of evidence to identify what should be redacted, and to share that with the prosecution for approval.
However, when the trial resumed Monday morning, Crumbley said in front of the court that she has decided to allow the entire thread of messages to be allowed without any redactions.
Smith: “You and I believe that it would look like we are hiding evidence from the jury if they saw a redacted version of [this exhibit]?”
Crumbley: Correct.
Crumbley also responded to a few questions from the prosecutors, who wanted to be sure she knew how the evidence, now admitted in its entirety, could be used throughout the trial process. The mother still agreed to admit the full thread of messages -- known as exhibit 423.
---> Live updates: Day 3 of trial for mother of Oxford High School shooter (Jan. 29)
More witnesses were scheduled to take the stand on Monday as Crumbley’s trial enters its third day. Both Jennifer and her husband, James Crumbley, have been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, but they are standing trial separately.
Judge Matthews partly approved a request months ago to exclude certain evidence from both of the parents’ trials, including: the parents’ infidelity; content from the shooter’s additional Instagram accounts; the messiness of their home, and the fact that alcohol and marijuana were present there; the shooter’s internet searches; and the shooter’s Nazi coin.
Click here to learn more about the case against the parents.