OXFORD, Mich. – A judge has denied the request by the father of the Oxford High School shooter to have his trial moved out of Oakland County.
James Crumbley asked for a venue change for his involuntary manslaughter trial after his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty on all four counts.
James Crumbley’s defense team filed the motion on Feb. 14, 2024. His trial is scheduled to begin March 5.
Crumbley is likewise facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter -- one for each of the students killed by his son in the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting.
Why did his defense team want to move him from Oakland County? They claimed the widespread media coverage surrounding the parents of the shooter will make it difficult to seat an impartial jury.
“[I]f a case has received widespread pretrial publicity, one of the parties may make a motion (request to the judge) for change of venue in an effort to secure jurors who haven’t already formed an opinion about the case,” the American Bar Association says.
Earlier this month, Crumbley’s wife was found guilty of all four counts after a nine-day jury trial. The case received widespread local and national coverage, including seven days of witness testimony and two days of jury deliberation.
Crumbley’s lawyers pointed to that extensive coverage, in addition to post-trial appearances by the prosecutors and the forewoman of the jury.
Crumbley’s trial is separate from his wife’s, but his lawyers argued the extent of past coverage won’t allow him to receive a fair chance inside the same courthouse. They argued that jurors pulled from Oakland County will already have knowledge about the case and be prejudiced against Crumbley.
Judge Cheryl A. Matthews, who has overseen both trials, officially denied the motion on Thursday, Feb. 22.
Before the Crumbley parents asked for separate trials -- a request Matthews granted in mid-November -- they were denied a similar request to move their case out of Oakland County. Matthews ruled that the level of publicity hadn’t reached a point that would warrant such a move.
“The level of pretrial publicity, and the number of prospective jurors that might have been directly affected by the Oxford shooting alone, is not enough to warrant a change of venue before conducting voir dire,” Matthews said in 2022. “Oakland County is not a small community and is sufficiently diverse to weigh against a finding of presumed prejudice. It’s well-established that pretrial publicity alone does not warrant a change of venue.”
Matthews determined the coverage of Jennifer Crumbley’s trial did not change her mind about that previous ruling.
