OXFORD, Mich. – Text messages, DoorDash routes, and jail communication were some of the new developments during Day 1 of the involuntary manslaughter trial for James Crumbley, the father of the Oxford High School shooter.
Thursday’s proceedings came with many similarities to last month’s Jennifer Crumbley trial, with both sides making opening statements and the prosecution calling two of the same witnesses to testify.
But James Crumbley is being tried separately from his wife, so there are subtle differences in the way the prosecution is arguing this case.
Here are some of the new developments during Day 1 of the trial.
Texts between James Crumbley and father of friend
The second witness called by the prosecution was Edward Wagrowski, who worked as a computer crimes expert for the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office at the time of the school shooting.
A majority of the evidence covered during assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Marc Keast’s questioning of Wagrowski was a rehash of Day 2 of the Jennifer Crumbley trial.
But not all of it.
The first new piece of evidence that stood out to me were text messages between James Crumbley and the father of his son’s friend.
This friend has been referred to as the “only friend” of the shooter. They would spend time together at the Crumbley household after school, and the friend would even join the family for camping trips and vacations.
But the month before the school shooting -- in October 2021 -- the friend had to be taken out of state to a treatment center in Wisconsin. Prosecutors have highlighted that sudden loss of a close friend as a reason the Crumbley parents should have been on high alert for warning signs from their son.
During Jennifer Crumbley’s trial, the prosecution showed messages between the two mothers. This time, Wagrowski spoke about messages exchanged between the fathers on Oct. 30, 2021.
James Crumbley: “Hey Marc. Sorry for the late text. Hope the family is well. Just wanted to check in and make sure everything is OK with (the friend). (The shooter) has been trying to get ahold of him for a few days. Did not know if his phone was taken away maybe. But just checking in. (The shooter) wanted to get with (the friend) for Halloween if he is OK.”
Marc: “Hey James, thanks for checking in on him. Unfortunately (the friend) is in a bad place with the OCD, unable to go to school most of this week. We are taking him out to Wisconsin tomorrow to put him in residential treatment. He will be gone for 60-90 days. By far the hardest decision we have had to make. So he probably doesn’t know how to approach it with (the shooter) or what to say. I think he is probably embarrassed about his situation and (that) is the reason he is not answering. Let me talk to (the friend). I wasn’t aware that he wasn’t talking to anyone.”
Marc: “Sorry for the delayed response.”
Marc: “Let me talk to (the friend) and see how he wants to approach it with (the shooter).”
James Crumbley: “Marc, please let me know if there is any way at all we can help! (The friend) is a great kid and is always great over here. And very welcome at ALL times. Please let me know if we can help.”
Marc: “Thank you. He loves you guys. Hopefully we can get him better and (the shooter) can spend some time over here, too. He has to voluntarily go, so there’s a chance he may not be admitted. If you don’t mind, for now, if (the shooter) asks, tell him (the friend) had to go out of town unexpectedly. If he gets admitted, then we can give him full disclosure. Is that alright?”
Shooter’s text messages in November 2021
Keast asked Wagrowski about the shooter’s communication with his friend compared to everyone else in his contacts.
Wagrowski said the number of text messages exchanged between the shooter and his friend stood out because of the sheer volume. There were more than 20,000 messages in their conversation from January 2021 to the end of October 2021.
But after the friend was taken out of state, Wagrowski said the shooter hardly had contact with anyone.
“No, he didn’t communicate with hardly anybody at all,” Wagrowski said.
There’s no evidence that the shooter ever met up with anybody out of school.
“If I remember correctly, for the whole month of November, there were only 48 total text messages from Nov. 1 through Nov. 30,” Wagrowski said.
Only six of those messages were to his parents, and the rest were sent to an app that helps with answers to math problems.
DoorDash routes
When the prosecution asked Wagrowski about the day of the shooting, they focused heavily on James Crumbley’s movement, and specifically whether he ever stopped at home.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were called to Oxford High School to meet with a counselor and their son about some disturbing drawings on a math worksheet. James Crumbley arrived at the school at 10:36 a.m. and drove out of the parking lot after the meeting at 10:57 a.m.
Keast then showed maps of the four DoorDash deliveries James Crumbley completed between that meeting and when he received the email about the school shooting at 1:09 p.m. (The school shooting took place from 12:51 p.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 30, 2021).
You can see the DoorDash route maps below, and the prosecution specified that James Crumbley never stopped at home while making those deliveries.
But after he learned about the shooting, he called his son twice without an answer, and then rushed home to find the SIG Sauer 9 mm handgun missing, according to location data and a 911 call.
Motion to restrict communication
At the end of the proceedings, after Wagrowski had left the stand and the jury had been dismissed for the day, chief assistant Oakland County Prosecutor David Williams stood and asked to make a motion.
Prosecutors wanted to restrict James Crumbley’s communication during the trial. Apparently, something happened during one of his jail phone calls -- which are recorded -- that prompted this request.
James Crumbley emphatically disagreed with the prosecution’s order.
“My client is not willing to agree to the order,” his defense attorney, Mariell Lehman, said. “It’s basically restricting his ability to speak to people, judge.”
Lehman and Williams ultimately went out into the hallway to discuss the issue, with Keast close behind. When they returned, Williams said they had reached a resolution.
“The agreement is going to be that Mr. Crumbley’s communications will be revoked, but not his ability to do research or otherwise participate in his own defense,” Williams said. “So not just communicating with counsel, but his ability to read or get other information -- simply communication.”
That is a stipulated order between the prosecution and the defense, and it’s designed to expire when a verdict is reached in the case. If there is a hung jury, this matter will be reexamined at that time.