School shooter’s mom Jennifer Crumbley asks judge to release her from prison, says imprisonment is ‘unfair’

Jennifer Crumbley, the convicted mother of the Oxford school shooter, requested that a judge release her from prison, maintaining it would be “grossly unfair and unjust” to keep her locked up during her ongoing appeals process.

The request to be released came after Crumbley was convicted on four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the shooting son, Ethan, carried out on Nov. 30, 2021. The shooting at Oxford High School killed Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and injured seven others. Her husband, James Crumbley, was later convicted on the same charges.

Crumbley’s attorney, Michael Deszi, filed a motion in the Oakland County Circuit Court on Thursday, arguing that Crumbley is not a “flight risk” and “poses no danger to the public.”

“This case has been bungled starting with the prosecution’s overreaching charge of involuntary manslaughter of a parent for the intentional criminal acts of her son who was charged and treated as an adult in the eyes of the law,” Deszi wrote in the court filing.

Ethan Robert Crumbley, 15, charged with first-degree murder in a high school shooting, poses in a jail booking photograph taken at the Oakland County Jail in Pontiac, Michigan. (Oakland County Sheriff)

Deszi argued that Crumbley should not have to be locked up until her case reaches the Michigan Supreme Court.

“… It would be grossly unfair and unjust to keep Mrs. Crumbley locked up for years while this matter proceeds slowly — likely for years — before the appellate courts,” Dezsi wrote, noting she has already been locked up for more than three years.

“Given the overtly tenuous nature of these charges, the prosecution should not reap the reward of a lengthy unlawful incarceration before the Michigan Supreme Court can hear and decide this case,” he said.

James and Jennifer Crumbley appear in court, Rochester Hills, Michigan, Feb. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

In a statement on Thursday, Oakland County’s Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Williams said Jennifer Crumbley needed to stay locked up due to her actions – not the actions of her then-15-year-old son.

“Jennifer Crumbley was tried by a jury of her peers for her own actions and inactions leading to the shooting at Oxford High School — not for the actions of her son,” he said.

“A jury of 12 individuals listened to testimony and reviewed countless pieces of evidence before they unanimously found her guilty as charged, and she was sentenced by the judge accordingly,” he said. “This was an egregious set of facts that resulted in a conviction along with a 10-15-year prison sentence.”

Four students were killed, and seven others injured on November 30, when student Ethan Crumbley opened fire at Oxford High School. (Scott Olson)

The Crumbley parents made history as the first parents to be convicted for a mass shooting committed by their child.

Jennifer was sentenced to serve between 10 and 15 years in prison after an Oakland County courtroom heard evidence arguing the now-46-year-old neglected her son’s cries for help over the years leading up to the shooting.

She and James also showed up at Oxford High on the same day Ethan shot people in the hallways to discuss violent images the then-15-year-old drew on a worksheet in class with school administrators, but they left and went back to work shortly afterward.

Earlier this month, Jennifer Crumbley asked the court to overturn her conviction or grant her a new trial.