OXFORD, Mich. – Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter this week, and the jury forewoman highlighted one specific piece of evidence that stood out.
The jury listened to 21 witnesses from the prosecution and Crumbley herself over seven full days in the courtroom. They deliberated for more than 10 hours across one and a half days before coming to a decision.
Their verdict: that Crumbley is guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter -- one for each of the students who were killed by her son during the Oxford High School shooting.
Prosecutors presented a mountain of evidence throughout the trial, from text and Facebook messages to surveillance footage to pictures inside the Crumbley household. But there was one piece of evidence that really stuck with the jury.
“The thing that really hammered it home is that she was the last adult with the gun,” the forewoman said.
The evidence she highlighted was surveillance footage from a shooting range on Nov. 27, 2021. It was the day after the murder weapon was purchased, and Crumbley went to the range with her son.
After they each took a couple of turns at the range, Crumbley left carrying the case with the SIG Sauer 9 mm handgun inside. She said her husband got it out of her car after work and secured it in the house, but the shooting range video was the last piece of evidence that showed the gun before the shooting, which happened three days later.
Prosecutors had to prove at least one of the two elements of involuntary manslaughter: gross negligence or a failure to perform a legal duty. They presented evidence in the form of unanswered text messages from the shooter, signs that he needed help, and photos of how guns were stored at the house.
Crumbley testified that her husband was the one in charge of securing the guns. She said her son was just joking when he texted about seeing demons and hallucinating. She also claimed she and her husband were planning to turn themselves in hours after they were taken into custody.
In the end, a jury of her peers decided she was asking them to believe too much.
“It was very difficult,” the forewoman said. “It wasn’t an easy decision. Lives hung in the balance and we took that very seriously.”
