Oakland County judge hears arguments on James Crumbley's request for new trial
Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews sat in the courtroom for more than two hours to hear arguments from the prosecution and defense over James Crumbley's motion for a new trial.
Crumbley, the father of the Oxford High School shooting,
filed a motion in February
, claiming that he did not receive a fair trial in the Nov. 30, 2021, mass shooting that killed four people and injured seven others. Defense attorney Alona Sharon alluded to alleged secret agreements made by prosecutors with two school officials, former Dean of Students
Nicholas Ejak
and school counselor
Shawn Hopkins
.
Crumbley was not in court on Friday, but Sharon accused the prosecution of misconduct "that robbed him of meaningful cross-examination and a chance to expose to the jury the biases of Hopkins and Ejak." However, Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast argued that the school officials were not promised immunity and prosecutors were not obligated to send the agreements to Crumbley's team.
Crumbley's appeal also questioned why his son, Ethan Crumbley, was not ordered to testify in his trial despite the teen invoking his Fifth Amendment Right. The motion accused the court of not further examining whether the teen's reason for not testifying was justified.
On Friday, Matthews ultimately called for more time to deliberate before making a final decision. The judge says he will have a ruling in a month.
The back-and-forth about the proffer agreements with Hopkins and Ejak remains at the forefront not only for James Crumbley but also for his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, who appealed her case and
requested that Prosecutor Karen McDonald be removed from it
.
In her response to James Crumbley's motion, McDonald said the agreements "were created at the request of their counsel, and provided assurance to counsel that the statements made during the interview would not be used against the witnesses later."
"Nowhere in the proffer agreements is there a 'plea agreement, grant immunity, or other agreement for testimony in connection with the case,'" McDonald
wrote in her response earlier this week
.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were each charged and convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Nov. 30, 2021, deadly shooting at Oxford High School. The couple's son was sentenced to life in prison for the shooting.
The Crumbleys made history as the first parents to be convicted for a mass shooting committed by their children. They were given separate trials that included testimonies from school officials, law enforcement and other witnesses.
During the trials, the prosecution argued that the parents should be held partially responsible for the students' deaths because they ignored signs of their son's mental health needs and purchased the gun that was used in the shooting. The shooter was 15 years old at the time of the shooting.
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