Jennifer Crumbley | Mother of Oxford High School Shooter Faces Novel Prosecution

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[00:00:26] combined with any other offer. This is True Crime Psychology and Personality, where we discuss

[00:00:41] the pathology behind some of the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from

[00:00:46] a scientifically informed perspective. I'm Dr. Todd Grande, I have a PhD in

[00:00:52] counselor education and supervision, and a licensed professional counselor of Mental Health.

[00:00:57] Dr. Todd Grande, that's my YouTube channel.

[00:01:00] Today's question is, can I analyze the case of Jennifer Crumbly? First to look at the

[00:01:06] background of this case, move to the timeline of the alleged crime, and offer my analysis.

[00:01:12] Jennifer Crumbly was born in April 1978 and lived in Michigan. She married a man named James.

[00:01:19] At some point, the couple moved to Florida and had a son named Ethan in April of 2006.

[00:01:25] The family moved to the state of Washington before moving back to Oxford, Michigan.

[00:01:30] Now moving to the timeline of the alleged crime. Jennifer would eventually be accused

[00:01:35] of a crime that involved an attack perpetrated by her son Ethan, so I will describe the crime

[00:01:41] that he committed then discussed the charges against Jennifer. On November 30, 2021, 15-year-old Ethan

[00:01:49] Crumbly went to Oxford High School where he was a student. He was carrying a SIG SOUR 2022 9-millimeter

[00:01:57] semi-automatic pistol which his father had purchased a few days earlier. The gun was a gift

[00:02:02] to Ethan. A teacher discovered a drawing on Ethan's desk which caused some concern.

[00:02:09] The drawing featured a semi-automatic pistol, a person, and a bullet. The pistol was pointing at

[00:02:15] the words, the thoughts won't stop, help me. The bullet had the words blood everywhere written

[00:02:22] above it. Between the image of the pistol and the bullet Ethan had drawn a person with a laughing

[00:02:29] emoji right below them. The person appeared to be bleeding from two gunshot wounds.

[00:02:35] Toward the bottom of the drawing Ethan wrote two sentences, my life is useless and the world

[00:02:41] is dead. The teacher reported Ethan to school officials who called Jennifer and James. They arrived

[00:02:47] at the school and examined the drawing. Ethan attempted to minimize its significance by saying it

[00:02:52] was for a video game he was designing. School officials told Jennifer and James that Ethan would

[00:02:58] have to receive mental health counseling within 48 hours or they were going to report this incident

[00:03:03] to social services. The officials claimed that Ethan's parents resisted the idea of Ethan

[00:03:10] leaving school at that time. Ethan was returned to class. At no time did Jennifer or James mention

[00:03:18] that Ethan may have had access to a gun and Ethan was never searched. The pistol was in his back

[00:03:25] back. At 12.50 pm Ethan produced the 9mm pistol and started shooting students in the hallway

[00:03:32] of the high school. Ultimately he murdered four students and injured seven other people.

[00:03:38] He was taken into custody without incident about five minutes after the shooting started.

[00:03:42] He was charged with 24 different crimes including four counts of first degree murder and one count

[00:03:48] of terrorism. On October 24, 2022 less than a year after the murders Ethan pleaded guilty to all

[00:03:56] charges. On December 8, 2023 he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole

[00:04:03] plus 24 years. Jennifer and James were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter.

[00:04:11] They allegedly failed to secure the firearm that Ethan used in the murders

[00:04:15] and allegedly ignored warning signs. They fled but were arrested right away.

[00:04:21] Jennifer's trial started in January 2024. The trial for James is scheduled to begin in March

[00:04:28] of 2024. During Jennifer's trial she testified in around defense. She indicated that she would not

[00:04:34] do anything differently if given the opportunity. She wished that Ethan had killed her and James

[00:04:41] instead of his victims. That was nice of her to include James in her statement like he was willing

[00:04:47] to sacrifice his life as well. Essentially Jennifer's defense strategy was to put the blame

[00:04:53] on her husband saying that it was his responsibility to secure the gun. On February 5, 2024

[00:05:00] the case went to the jury. At one point during the deliberations they had some difficulty

[00:05:06] understanding the instructions and ask the judge for clarification. At the time I'm making this

[00:05:12] video the jury has discontinued deliberating for the day. I'm moving to my analysis.

[00:05:19] There are two theories available to the state to prove that Jennifer was guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

[00:05:25] The first theory is roast negligence. The state argued that Jennifer knew about the danger to another

[00:05:32] using ordinary care would have prevented injury and she failed to use ordinary care when a

[00:05:38] reasonable person would have known the result was likely to be serious injury. The second theory

[00:05:45] is based on a failure to perform illegal duty. Jennifer willfully neglected or refused to control

[00:05:51] her son Ethan and the death of the victims was directly caused by this failure. The idea that

[00:05:57] Ethan would murder someone was reasonably foreseeable. All the members of the jury have to agree

[00:06:04] that one of these theories was satisfied but they don't have to agree on the same theory.

[00:06:10] It is completely understandable that the jury would struggle with these theories as they are both vague

[00:06:15] and confusing. The defense argued that Jennifer was not responsible to secure the 9-millimeter pistol.

[00:06:21] It was not her job rather that responsibility fell to James. He is the one who purchased the pistol.

[00:06:29] It was registered in his name. Furthermore, Jennifer was not aware of mental health symptoms

[00:06:34] that would have led her to believe that Ethan was going to kill people. This brings me to the question

[00:06:39] was Jennifer guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Let's take a look at the evidence both foreign against

[00:06:45] the idea that Jennifer was guilty starting with the inculpatory factors. Jennifer had a criminal

[00:06:51] history involving DUI and check fraud. It is reasonable to believe that Jennifer and her husband

[00:06:56] James fled from authorities after the shooting despite Jennifer's claims to the contrary.

[00:07:02] She has proven that she is willing to violate the norms of society. In journal entries and text messages

[00:07:09] to a friend Ethan expressed concerns about his mental health difficulties. Ethan had sent messages

[00:07:15] to Jennifer about seeing ghosts in the family house. He thought the house was haunted. He mentioned

[00:07:22] a demon that was throwing bowls. His door had been slammed. He saw clothing fly off a shelf

[00:07:30] and Ethan said that someone walked into the bathroom flushed the toilet and left the light on.

[00:07:36] Any reasonable person would have been alarmed by toilet demons, especially those that would

[00:07:41] leave the light on. They come from a special non-eco-friendly place in hell. Ethan claimed that his

[00:07:48] mother laughed at him when he mentioned seeking mental health counseling for his symptoms.

[00:07:52] A co-worker of Jennifer's testified that Jennifer told her that Ethan was hearing noises around

[00:07:57] the crumbly family house. Jennifer was having an affair with a firefighter at the time of the shooting.

[00:08:03] The firefighter testified that right before the shooting, Jennifer texted him concerned that Ethan

[00:08:08] would do something dumb. The firefighter knew that the crumblies had recently purchased a pistol. He

[00:08:14] asked Jennifer where it was. She claimed that it was in her vehicle, which was not true. There were

[00:08:22] times when Jennifer appeared to be inattentive, like she was more concerned with her horses and having

[00:08:27] an affair than with the well-being of her son. On November 29, 2021, Ethan crumbly was in class

[00:08:35] at Oxford High School when a teacher saw him using his phone to search for ammunition.

[00:08:41] School officials met with Ethan to discuss this behavior and left a voicemail for Jennifer.

[00:08:46] She did not respond to the school, but she did send a text to her son. She wrote,

[00:08:52] L-O-L, I'm not mad at you, you have to learn not to get caught.

[00:08:57] On November 30, 2021, the day of the shooting, Jennifer saw the disturbing drawing but failed

[00:09:04] to mention the gun to school officials. In addition, she did not search Ethan's backpack and she wanted

[00:09:10] him to remain at the school. With Lucky Landslabs, you can get lucky just about anywhere.

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[00:10:28] now back to the show. Moving to the Ex-Cupatory Factors, Jennifer testified that Ethan never

[00:10:35] asked her for mental health counseling. He only had some anxiety about taking tests and what he

[00:10:40] would do after high school. She said that all the talk about ghosts and demons was just an ongoing

[00:10:47] joke that they had in their house. Perhaps Jennifer didn't actually know that Ethan had pronounced

[00:10:53] mental health symptoms. Right before the shooting, when school staff members were waiting for Ethan's

[00:10:58] parents to arrive, school counselors did not observe any behavior by Ethan, indicating that he was

[00:11:04] the danger to himself or others. These trained professionals could not foresee the shooting,

[00:11:09] but the state argued that Jennifer should have possessed this ability. Why is she being held to a

[00:11:15] higher standard than mental health professionals? After the shooting, Jennifer texted her firefighter

[00:11:21] Lover and indicated that she was upset that Ethan was a killer. It is clear that she was not happy

[00:11:27] about the shooting. Even though Jennifer refused to take her son home on the day of the shooting,

[00:11:32] the school could have sent him home anyway. School officials chose to allow Ethan to remain

[00:11:37] at the school because he had no previous disciplinary infractions. James is the one who actually

[00:11:44] purchased a pistol that was used in the murders. Therefore it was his responsibility to make sure that

[00:11:49] Ethan could not gain access to it. Jennifer indicated that she left it up to James to secure the

[00:11:55] weapon. In addition, there is no federal law and no law in the state of Michigan requiring a gun

[00:12:01] owner to lock away firearms from children. The gun may have been a gift to Ethan but Jennifer

[00:12:07] testified that it was only for use at a shooting range where they spent time together as a family.

[00:12:13] The state never proved whether the 9-millimeter pistol was locked or unlocked.

[00:12:19] If the gun was locked and Ethan had to work diligently to find the key, his parents bear less

[00:12:25] responsibility than if the gun was unlocked. School shootings are low probability events. They are

[00:12:31] covered in the media to a great degree but statistically they don't actually happen that often.

[00:12:37] Unlikely events are very difficult to foresee. When considering the evidence in this case,

[00:12:42] do I think that Jennifer Crumbly was guilty of involuntary manslaughter? No, I do not think she

[00:12:48] was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The state did not meet their burden of proof. What do I think

[00:12:54] happened in this case? This is just a theory, my opinion. Jennifer and James Crumbly were not good

[00:13:00] parents. They did not take Ethan's mental health symptoms seriously. In addition, Jennifer was having

[00:13:06] an affair which served as a significant distraction and may have led to feelings of uncontrolled happiness.

[00:13:13] This affair euphoria can facilitate anti-social or irresponsible behavior.

[00:13:19] People engaging in affairs tend to believe that there are no consequences for their behavior.

[00:13:25] After Ethan murdered four students in his high school, people were understandably furious.

[00:13:31] They were frustrated that school shootings are so difficult to prevent. The state examined the

[00:13:36] lives of Ethan's parents and decided that their immorality would make them easy targets for prosecution.

[00:13:43] The government wanted to set a new precedent of holding parents responsible for school shootings.

[00:13:49] Jennifer's trial became the test case. The only problem for the state is that they didn't have

[00:13:54] enough evidence proving Jennifer's guilt. The prosecutor had to rely almost solely on impugning

[00:14:00] Jennifer's character. For example, the prosecutor implied that Jennifer didn't care about her son

[00:14:05] because the pregnancy was unplanned and that Jennifer should have hugged Ethan on the day of the

[00:14:11] shooting. The state's case came down to discurreious demons and oopsie baby and a failure to hug.

[00:14:19] Jennifer is never going to win a mother of the year award but prosecuting her was a mistake.

[00:14:25] Now moving to my final thoughts. Despite my opinion that Jennifer is not guilty,

[00:14:30] it was completely unacceptable that the gun used in the murders was not secured.

[00:14:35] Locking a firearm away from children is a simple step that can prevent a great deal of harm.

[00:14:41] Instead of prosecuting people for involuntary manslaughter when an unsecured gun is used to commit

[00:14:46] murder, maybe the laws should be changed to mandate the securing of firearms when children live

[00:14:52] in the residence. As far as the mental health aspect of this case, I think that everyone missed

[00:14:58] the fact that Ethan was struggling. He believed that he was hallucinating and was clearly

[00:15:03] disturbed by that experience. Mental health symptoms often generate behavior that causes

[00:15:09] the concealment of the symptoms themselves. Despite this concealment, Jennifer did have indications

[00:15:14] that something was wrong but she failed to act. She was distracted by an affair with a fireman.

[00:15:21] Jennifer should have known better than to play with fire.

[00:15:28] This has been True Crime Psychology and Personality from R's Longa Media.

[00:15:37] This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. R's Longa Vita Brevis.

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