OXFORD, Mich. (CN) — Friday marked the second day of testimony in the manslaughter trial of James Crumbley, father of a boy who killed four classmates in a school shooting at Oxford High School in 2021.
Like his wife Jennifer Crumbley, who had her own trial last month, James faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter over his son's killing of four other students in the Detroit suburb of Oxford in late November 2021.
The pair are the first parents of a school shooter to face criminal charges over their child's actions. Their son Ethan Crumbley has already pleaded guilty to the killings and is currently serving a life sentence without parole.
Much of Friday's testimony focused on issues of gun safety and responsible gun ownership, which prosecutors have portrayed as lacking in the Crumbley household.
James Crumbley bought his son the Sig Sauer 9mm semiautomatic handgun that was used in the shooting. Like his now-convicted wife, he is accused of being willfully negligent of the threat his son presented.
A woman named Cammy Back took the stand on Friday morning. She is currently an office manager for the local gun shop where James Crumbley bought his son his gun in November 2021.
Back sold the Crumbleys the gun. During testimony, she detailed James Crumbley's prior purchases from the same shop.
James Crumbley was "a familiar face" to store staff, Back said. On the day he bought the Sig Sauer, his son was with him. Both were eager to make the purchase, she said.
"As I came out of the office, they were right at the showcase with that gun," Back told prosecutor Marc Keast. "That was the only one he picked out."
Back also told Keast that a gun case and cable lock were included in James Crumbley's cash purchase of the Sig Sauer. She said the buyer of any gun is responsible for its safe use and ownership.
Earlier in the trial — and also during Jennifer Crumbley's trial — prosecutors showed jurors an August 2021 video the shooter made of himself loading a handgun by putting a round in the firing chamber. The teen later sent the video to a friend.
“My dad left it out so I thought, ‘Why not’ lol,” the shooter wrote in a text message accompanying the video.
At Jennifer Crumbley's trial, Detective Adam Stoyek of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office testified that while searching the Crumbley home, James Crumbley directed investigators to another firearm lockbox with the lock combination of 000 — the default setting.
On firearm-purchase documentation James Crumbley filled out when buying the Sig Sauer, the school shooter's father checked "yes" to a questionnaire asking if he was the actual buyer of the gun.
The same question form clarified that he was not the actual buyer if he was purchasing the gun on behalf of anyone else. Prosecutors showed jurors this documentation amid Back's testimony on Friday,
In social-media posts just days before the 2021 shooting, the shooter called the gun his own, while his mother deemed it "his new Christmas present."
James Crumbleys' defense attorney Mariell Lehman responded to the prosecutors' case by leaning on what Back and police witnesses — including Oakland County Sheriff Computer Crimes Expert Edward Wagrowski, who was on the stand for cross-examination Friday after giving direct testimony Thursday — didn't know.
Lehman had Back confirm on the stand, for example, that she never heard James Crumbley discuss buying the gun for his son. She also questioned Wagrowski over the August 2021 handgun-loading video the shooter sent to his friend.
Although authorities said James Crumbley was home when the video was taken, Lehman pushed Wagrowski to say that he couldn't confirm if the defendant knew his son was making the video.
"You don't know if he was in a different room, had no idea that his son was handling the firearm, correct?" Lehman asked.
"I can't say that," Wagrowski answered. "Because when you rack a round into a gun, that slide going forward makes a lot of noise, and in a small house you'd probably hear it."
"Probably," Lehman retorted, "but you don't know."
In the afternoon, prosecutors resumed the offensive with emotional testimony from Oxford High School Assistant Principal Kristy Gibson-Marshall.
The school administrator recounted how she saw the shooter stalking the halls while he was carrying out the shooting. He didn't shoot at her, instead passing her by and leaving her to care for one of his victims, Tate Myre, who was lying face down in the school hallway.
"He had a bullet wound entering in the back of his head and exiting in the front," Gibson-Marshall said.
"He was very grey but I started to resuscitate immediately," she added. "He had a pulse."
"You knew him?" Prosecutor Karen McDonald asked Gibson-Marshall.
"Yeah. I had all of his brothers, and his mom was my PTO president," the assistant principal answered while holding back tears. "I've known the family really well."
Ultimately, Myre — like his classmates Madisyn Baldwin, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling — did not survive his shooting injuries.
As Gibson-Marshall delivered her testimony, James Crumbley could be seen at the defense table, sobbing with his hand over his mouth.
"Fuck, fuck," he said under his breath.
Friday's proceedings ended earlier than expected after Gibson-Marshall gave her account of the shooting. Lehman had no questions for her.
Presiding Judge Cheryl Matthews sent the jurors home around 2:30 p.m. after prosecutors said they didn't have any other witnesses for the afternoon.
"We are making incredible strides, we're going quickly, we're being efficient, but we're sort of out of witnesses for today," Matthews told the jury.
She asked the jurors to return Monday at 9 a.m., noting that the trial should wrap up sometime next week.
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