Accused school shooter Ethan Crumbley to take stand in parents’ manslaughter trial

The teen accused of opening fire inside the halls of his Michigan high school, is set to take the stand in his parents’ upcoming manslaughter trial.

Armed with a gun recently purchased for him by his mother and father, Ethan Crumbley unleashed a hail of bullets in Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021. He fatally shot four classmates and wounded seven more people before surrendering to responding authorities.

His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were arrested days later in the basement of an art warehouse in Detroit. They are accused of failing to intervene before the massacre, despite being called into the school for a sit-down with administrators regarding distressing and violent doodles discovered in their son’s notebook.

Ethan Crumbley is charged with killing four people and wounding seven more.

What’s more, the Crumbleys allegedly failed to secure the firearm used in the attack — a 9-mm, semiautomatic handgun — which they bought for their son just days earlier on Black Friday.

Both Jennifer and James, who are each facing four counts of manslaughter in connection with the school shooting, have pleaded not guilty.

Jennifer Crumbley (left) and James Crumbley appear in court for a preliminary examination on involuntary manslaughter charges in Rochester Hills, Mich. on Feb. 8, 2022. (Paul Sancya/)

Defense attorney Shannon Smith on Monday told Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews Crumbley’s testimony would be related to “extraneous matters” and not the school shooting itself.

“We need him as a witness in this trial,” said Smith. “There are just certain questions we would just not be able to ask. We do understand that.”

Matthews on Monday also rejected the Crumbleys’ request to move the location of the trial. Their attorneys unsuccessfully argued the couple would not receive a fair trial in the county given the high-profile nature of the proceedings. The judge did however ban both the prosecution and defense from speaking about the trial in a bid to limit publicity.

A tentative date for the proceedings have been set for Oct. 24.

With News Wire Services