Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter, is asking the Michigan Court of Appeals to release her on bond as she appeals her conviction.
This comes after Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews denied her request for a new trial.
Why Crumbley believes she should be released
In the motion filed on Monday, June 16, Crumbley’s attorney, Michael Dezsi, said that she “poses no danger to others” and that her appeal “raises several questions of law and fact.”
This includes whether Crumbley had the legal duty to protect the victims of the Oxford High School shooting. The attorney referenced a case in which the appeals court found that “an individual has no duty to protect another from the criminal acts of a third party in the absence of a special relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff [injured party] or the defendant and the third party.”
Michigan law is also “clear that family relationships, in and of themselves, do not give rise to a duty-imposing special-relationship,” Dezsi said in his court filing.
Dezsi also argues that Crumbley’s due process rights were violated under federal and state law because of inconsistencies in the prosecution’s theories in their cases against Crumbley and her son.
This is due to her son being charged as an adult in the shooting, while the prosecution’s case against Crumbley was based on the fact that she had “failed to control her minor child,” according to the court filing.
For these reasons, and others, Crumbley filed a motion for an acquittal and/or a new trial in December 2024. She also filed a motion for bond pending appeal later that month.
Request for new trial denied
During a motion hearing in January, Matthews said she would only hear arguments for an acquittal and/or a new trial based on possible discovery violations with proffer agreements that the prosecution had made with two school employees.
These agreements were made with Nick Ejak, the former dean of students at Oxford High School, and Shawn Hopkins, the former counselor at Oxford High School. These school employees met with the shooter and his parents the morning of the Oxford High School shooting and were considered key witnesses in the case.
James and Jennifer Crumbley’s defense teams didn’t know about the proffer agreements until after their trials were over.
After the hearing, the judge said that she would give a written response on these motions as a ruling on them was impactful.
Dezsi filed a complaint at the end of May claiming that the court was delaying Crumbley’s right to appeal her conviction, which prompted a rare public response from the court.
Then, Matthews denied Crumbley’s requests last week.
Now, Dezsi has filed a motion with the Michigan Court of Appeals seeking bond as Crumbley appeals her conviction.
Jennifer Crumbley and her husband, James Crumbley, were convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with their son’s actions in the Oxford High School Shooting on Nov. 30, 2021, which left four students -- 14-year-old Hana St. Juliana; 16-year-old Tate Myre; 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin; and 17-year-old Justin Shilling -- dead and seven others injured. The two parents were sentenced to 10-15 years in prison.
Matthews also denied James Crumbley’s request for a new trial last week.