James Crumbley trial enters 4th day of testimony: Watch live
Prosecutors began presenting more witnesses Tuesday in the involuntary manslaughter trial of James Crumbley, father of the Oxford High School shooter, who killed four students and wounded seven other people on Nov. 30, 2021.
Ethan Crumbley, the murderer, pleaded guilty to all charges against him and is serving life without the possibility of parole. His mother, Jennifer Crumbley, was convicted last month of four counts of involuntary manslaughter, making her the first parent in America held criminally responsible for a child's school shooting.
Prosecutors are seeking to hold both parents accountable for the deaths of Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17.
Watch live here and read updates through the day.
'I can’t believe it, they’re here'
Jurors also heard from Luke Kirtley, the coffee connoisseur who called 911 and reported the whereabouts of the Crumbleys on the night they were arrested in December 2021 in a Detroit industrial-style building, where they sleeping in a friend’s art gallery.
They were arrested in the early morning hours of Dec. 4 after being spotted by Kirtley a few hours before.
Kirtley, who owns a coffee roasting company located in the building where the Crumbleys were found, testified that he had seen a car in the parking lot of the building at about 10 p.m. that matched the Kia vehicle he had seen in a “wanted poster” for the Crumbleys.
“It hit me when I saw the license plate,” he testified, adding the plate matched the one on the poster.
He said he then saw someone sitting on a curb in a blue plaid hoodie, but couldn’t recognize the person.
He went into his unit and called 911, saying he “feared” for his safety.
“The parents of the shooter that are running away, they’re here,” Kirtley tells the 911 operator in a recording that was played for the jury. “I can’t believe it, they’re here.”
On cross-examination, defense attorney Mariell Lehman asked him if the person he saw on the curb said anything to him.
He had no interaction with that person, he said.
That person “didn’t run after you” or “chase you down,” Lehman said.
Correct, he answered.
Jurors also saw a photograph of James Crumbley being escorted out of the building by police that night.
Before leaving the witness stand, Kirtley was asked by the prosecutor to describe what the man being led away in handcuffs was wearing.
A blue plaid hoodie, he answered.
Detective describes search for James and Jennifer Crumbley
David Hendrick, who was sergeant of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office fugitive apprehension team at the time of the shooting, testified his team was asked on Dec. 2, 2021, to locate James and Jennifer Crumbley.
He testified they did not locate the couple that day, but a vehicle belonging to the couple was found at a hotel in Auburn Hills on Dec. 3. Hendrick testified he was made aware that the two were formally charged that day. Later that night, the couple’s other vehicle was located in the parking lot of a building in Detroit by the Detroit Police Department, he testified.
He said multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Detroit Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, Border Patrol and Michigan State Police were also on the scene. Hendrick testified that dozens of officers were on the scene. He described law enforcement going room to room in the building looking for the couple. They had to force their way into some rooms for which they did not have keys, he testified.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were eventually found inside the building and taken into custody after 1 a.m. Dec. 4, he said.
Defense attorney Mariell Lehman asked Hendrick: “So you began looking for James and Jennifer Crumbley before they were formally charged?”
“Correct,” he said.
She asked if it was standard practice for the department to take someone into custody before charges are announced.
“Depends on the crime and the circumstances surrounding it,” he said.
Lehman also asked whether Hendrick was aware that the Crumbleys, after the shooting, did not have their phones because law enforcement had taken them away, and that they bought prepaid phones to contact family.
He said he didn’t know why they bought the phones, only that they did.
A peek inside the shooter's rooms shows shooting targets, shell casings
The jury Tuesday saw photos of the shooter’s two bedrooms, including a messy one where two used shooting targets of human silhouettes hung over his bed and empty shell casings littered his nightstand. An empty whiskey bottle was on the floor. A notebook was on a bed with drawings of a gun.
The jury also saw a photo of the Crumbley’s bedroom, where a photo of an empty gun case and box of ammunition was on the bed. The gun case was the one for the 9 mm Sig Sauer handgun that the father had bought just four days before the shooting, the gun his son would use to shoot up the school.
“This is how it was when we came in,” said Oakland County Sheriff’s Detective Adam Stoyek, the first witness to testify Tuesday.
Stoyak helped search the Crumbley home on the day of the shooting, and testified that James Crumbley was cooperative.
For example, in an in-car video after the shooting, Stoyek can be heard asking James Crumbley where the guns are in the house. James Crumbley told him about a case in the couple's bedroom that held the two .22-caliber guns and was locked with a combination of all zeros.
“I’m completely open and I want you guys to do what you have to do,” he said.
Stoyek walked jurors through the items that were found in the house, including:
Two guns found in a safe.
A black gun box for one of those guns was found in the kitchen. A cable lock was inside it.
Multiple BB guns in a shed.
A Playstation console and numerous video games, including Grand Theft Auto and Battlefield Assassin’s Creed.
During cross-examination of Stoyek, defense attorney Mariell Lehman asked the detective to describe James Crumbley's demeanor when he was in the back of a patrol car, venting about his wife being in handcuffs.
"He was obviously wondering what was going on," Stoyek said.
"He was upset?" Lehman asked.
"I don’t really know him," Stoyek responded.
Lehman then asked Stoyek about Crumbley's behavior when he questioned the father on the day of the shooting.
"You ask him if he’s willing to tell you where the firearms are ... He used the word absolutely," Lehman said.
"Yeah, he was cooperative," Stoyek answered, noting: "He told me before going to the house" that there would be a BB gun with military styling in one of his son’s bedrooms, 'So don’t freak out when you see that. '”
On redirect examination, Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast asked Stoyek one question: Did James Crumbley ever tell you the Sig Sauer that his son used to shoot up the school was locked up?
"He did not," the detective answered.
James Crumbley: 'Honey, don't freak out in front of the cops'
Day 4 of trial started with jurors seeing a bizarre video of the Crumbleys sitting and venting while in the back seat of a police car at 2:50 p.m. on the day of the shooting. Jennifer Crumbley is handcuffed.
They are in front of their house, in a police car, with the song "September" by Earth Wind and Fire playing in the background.
The video begins with James Crumbley protesting on his wife's behalf:
"Why is she in handcuffs? Can you take them off her please?"
Jennifer: "Why am I in handcuffs?"
James: "I don’t know."
Jennifer: "I didn’t do anything ... I’m getting claustrophobic."
James: "Honey don’t freak out in front of the cops."
Jennifer: "Why are they here? Why are they here?"
James: "Why are you in f----- handcuffs?"
Jennifer: "Why are they in our house? … I’m so confused."
James: "We’re already dealing with s---. Why do we have to deal with this?"
At this point, Jennifer Crumbley spotted someone familiar to her outside the car window and started yelling and pounding on the window:
"There’s Patrick! Patrick! Patrick! Patrick!"
"He can’t hear you Jen," James Crumbley tells her.
But his wife continues to yell: "Patrick! Patrick!"
Again, he tells her: "Jen, Jen, he can’t hear you."
At this point, James Crumbley gets sentimental:
"Honey I love you, in case something happens."
He leaned in and kissed his wife.
She said nothing back.
He then told her they should say nothing until they have lawyers.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: James Crumbley Oxford High shooting involuntary manslaughter trial
