OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter, will appear in court Friday as a judge hears arguments after denying part of her request for a new trial.
The hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. before Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews.
Click here to read more on what happened during the court hearing on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025.
On Thursday, Jan. 30, Matthews denied most of the reasonings that were made in the request for a new trial but said oral arguments will still be heard on whether Crumbley is entitled to a judgment of acquittal based on alleged discovery violations regarding proffer agreements that were made between the prosecutor’s office and two school employees, according to the motion.
On Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024, Crumbley requested that she be released from prison as it would be “grossly unfair and unjust” to keep her behind bars during the appeals process.
Her attorney, Michael Dezsi, argued that Crumbley should have never been tried in the first place.
“Mrs. Crumbley has committed no crime, has never harmed anyone, and is certainly not a flight risk, so there is no reason to deny her right to freedom while an overreaching prosecution attempts to pin the failings of a nation on the [backs of parents],” said Dezsi.
Following the request, David Williams, chief assistant prosecutor, said Crumbley was tried for her actions and inactions leading to the Oxford High School shooting.
“The legal issues raised by Jennifer Crumbley have already been heard and rejected by the Michigan Court of Appeals,” Williams said in a statement. “She should remain in prison serving her sentence while this matter proceeds through the appellate courts.”
On Jan. 3, 2025, the prosecutor’s office filed a response to Crumbley’s requests for a new trial and to be released from prison during her appeal.
In the response, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said, “The mother received a fair trial in front of a jury of her peers, and her motion for a new trial should be denied.”
When addressing the bond request, McDonald said, “This is at least the seventh time bond has been addressed during these proceedings. The only difference now is that the presumption of innocence no longer applies -- the defendant has been convicted by a jury of her peers for causing the deaths of Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, and Justin Shilling. Like each of the defendant’s previous requests relating to bond, this motion should be denied.”
Since requesting to be released from prison, Dezsi also accused the prosecution of paying public relations firms to engage in a “smear campaign” against the Crumbley parents.
Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first parents in the U.S. to be convicted in a mass school shooting carried out by their child.
In separate trials, they were sentenced to 10-15 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter in connection to the shooting at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, which left four students dead and seven people injured.
Their son, now 18, was 15 at the time of the shooting.
In December 2022, the shooter pleaded guilty to all 24 charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole in December 2023.
Late last year, in December 2024, a judge refused to allow the school shooter to withdraw his guilty plea.