Jennifer Crumbley's trial on day 3 had witness testimony from school counselor, owner of horse farm
PONTIAC, Mich. (Fox 2) - During Jennifer Crumbley's trial Friday, prosecutors revealed messages that showed how she responded to the Oxford High School shooting. The jury was released early Monday afternoon as both legal teams worked through evidence.
They'll be back in court on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.
3:40 p.m. Judge sends jury home for the day
The judge sent the jury home for the day and plans to resume the trial on 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
However, both the defense and prosecution are still going through exhibits that are expected with the next witness. Judge Cheryl Matthews will be back on the record before leaving court for any other objections before concluding for the day.
3:30 p.m. - Cross-examination of witness ends
3 p.m. - Prosecution calls next witness
Sergeant Joe Brian works with the sheriff's office works on major investigations. He's been with the department for 27 years.
Brian called James and Jennifer Crumbley to come to the sheriff's substation after they had identified their son as the shooter. The prosecution then played a video of the interview. James Crumbley is shown wiping his eyes a lot while Jennifer Crumbley is on her phone.
Both retold the events of the past day and week, including where the weapon and ammo was stored. James Crumbley said "I tried to teach him safety" after mentioning they took their son to the shooting range.
Early on in the interview, Jennifer Crumbley mentions wanting to get a lawyer.
James and Jennifer Crumbley meet with detectives after learning their son was involved in a school shooting.
Following the video, Brian was asked to describe the defendant's reaction to learning their son was involved in a shooting as "atypical."
2:29 p.m. - Prosecution resumes cross-examination
Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast went through many of the concerning signs that Jennifer Crumbley was aware her son was showing throughout the school year and in the months before.
The judge called a 10-minute break after that.
1:41 p.m. - Defense cross-examines counselor
The defense is going over some of the exhibits the prosection asked Hopkins about, including the timeline of Nov. 29 and Nov. 30 and reported incidents between teachers and counselors and the shooter.
At no time during the voicemail left on Jennifer Crumbley's phone did the school ask her to return the call, Hopkins testified. He was also asked by the defense about the shooter's math assignment, which included an image of a gun. He later altered the image by scribbling out the image of the gun.
Hopkins testified he saw both images of both the original and altered assignment.
Oxford HS counselor testifies about meeting with shooter's parents
Oxford High School counselor Shawl Hopkins testified that he called the shooter's parents into school because he was concerned for the student's wellbeing after knowing he was researching bullets, drawing violent images and had expressed sadness over recent personal events in a conversation.
The shooter also said he wanted to stay in school the day he was called into the counselor's office. Hopkins testified that the shooter's parents had confirmed being out of school was a source of anxiety for him.
1:10 p.m. - Court resumes after lunch + Meeting with Crumbley parents
Court resumed with Hopkins recalling the meeting he had with James and Jennifer Crumbley the day of the shooting.
After Hopkins went over the concerns he had with the shooter after his parents arrived in the office, he told both James and Jennifer Crumbley that he wanted them to get their son help.
"I want him to be seen as soon as possible, today if possible," Hopkins testified he told the parents.
The Crumbley parents said taking their son out of school wasn't possible that day. They had to return to work and couldn't take him out of school. His next question was if they could get him help within 48 hours.
Hopkins testified of the dozens of meetings he had had with parents of students, he had never experienced a parent responding that way. Hopkins also provided a referral sheet to the Crumbley parents with mental health services. The meeting lasted about 15 minutes.
12 p.m. - Judge calls lunch
Hopkins got in touch with Jennifer Crumbley about the meeting he was having with her son. He also sent an image of the assignment that included the drawing of the gun to her cell phone.
She then indicated she would come to school after failing to get in touch with James Crumbley.
The judge called a lunch break until 1 p.m.
11:27 a.m. - Prosecution calls next witness
Shawn Hopkins is a counselor at Oxford High School. He was tasked with several duties, including helping students with problems they were having at school and at home.
He had previous interactions with the shooter before Nov. 30, but does not recall them. One reference was to a meeting a teacher hoped Hopkins would set up with the shooter after he said on a school assignment that he feels terrible and his family is a mistake. "Unusual responses for sure," the teacher said in the email to Hopkins.
Other emails to Hopkins also reference the shooter having a hard time at school. He then had a quick meeting with the shooter in the hallway. He didn't have any information on the student besides knowing he was sad, which was pretty normal at the time.
He did not contact his parents at the time.
In later correspondence with a teacher, the shooter was reported as showing worrying behavior and looked up images of bullets in class. Hopkins notes escalating issues with students are situation-dependent. If it's discipline, he will contact the dean. But if it's a social or emotional issue, he will contact the student's parents.
A meeting was set up between the shooter and a school administrator. Hopkins was also there as support. The meeting lasted about 10 minutes and the school employee left a voicemail with the parents of the shooter.
More concerning behavior was observed by a teacher of the student looking up a violent movie scene the next day, who emailed Hopkins about the incident. At the same time, another email was went to Hopkins about a math assignment with a drawing of the gun.
Hopkins had the dean of students come to his office and told him he had planned on meeting with the shooter later that day. He retrieved the shooter from his classroom where he was at the time and brought him to his office. He also grabbed his assignment with the image of the gun.
The shooter's drawing of a gun that appeared on a school assignment.
During this meeting, Hopkins suspected the shooter may be revealing signs of suicide ideation.
The shooter opened up about having lost a pet and a grandparent, his friend was no longer enrolled at the school, and had an argument with his parents. His demeanor had changed after Hopkins pried into some of the words written on the assignment. They included "The thoughts won't stop" and "Help me."
Hopkins then said he needed to call his parents and get them involved.
10:57 a.m. - Defense begins cross-examination
The defense is asking Pennock about differences in her testimony during a previous court hearing and what she has testified to today.
She previously said "I had never gotten the feeling that Jen and James had issues with their son," the defense said, before asking about why she testified earlier Monday about why she thought there may be some issues.
Pennock later said she felt she knew who the shooter was after hearing reports of the incident and having seen the drawing of the gun.
The defense is also zeroing in on a text that Pennock sent Jennifer, saying "I know you and James and this doesn't even remotely make me think it's your fault."
"I did put that in the text," Pennock testified. Questioning ended soon after that.
Kira Pennock's text to Jennifer Crumbley.
10:46 a.m. - ‘I think it would be best if you didn’t come out to the barn'
Pennock eventually told Jennifer to not come out to the barn after they had planned on selling the horses.
Jennifer previously texted Pennock that she wished there had been warning signs from the shooter. Pennock wasn't aware of what those might have been.
The dialogue between the two happened the day after the shooting at Oxford High School. Pennock advised Jennifer not to come out because she was worried about her safety and her business. Jennifer also told her they were out of the area at the time, away from their home.
They had planned on selling the horses several days later.
Jennifer mentions a day later she believes charges were going to be announced at noon on Friday, which is days after the shooting.
The horses were eventually signed over to the barn without a sale because of the company's contract with the owners of the horses stipulated that without payment, they are automatically signed over to the owner. Pennock also testified she gave her texts to law enforcement.
9:47 a.m. Jury is seated + First witness called
Defense Attorney Shannon Smith started things by apologizing for a comment she made last week. She said she was sorry to the jury, the courtroom, and the victims and families of the victims involved in the case.
Kira Pennock was then seated as the first witness of the day. She owns and runs a horse farm and was friends with Jennifer Crumbley. She's owned the farm since May 2021.
Pennock had met the Crumbley's before the parents made the decision to purchase horses and board them at her farm. It was the farm's staff's job to take care of the horses that were kept there. The Crumbley's owned two horses: Billy and Shorty.
The parents shelled out a lot of money to care for both horses, including supplements that cost hundreds of dollars.
Jennifer had "nothing truly positive" to say about her son, Pennock testified, during the moments that the defendant brought up her son when the two were together. At times, Jennifer described her son as an "oopsie baby."
On the day of Nov. 30, Jennifer had planned to go out to the barn to further assist with one of their horses. She told Pennock she had just gotten out of a meeting with their school's counselor after the shooter drew an image of a gun.
She also sent an image of the gun, which was drawn on a math assignment.
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Jennifer Crumbley called son an ‘oopsie baby’ before Oxford shooting, witness says
Jennifer Crumbley described her son as 'weird' and an 'oopsie baby' before the Oxford High School shooting where he killed four students, according to witness testimony on Monday.
Pennock first heard about the shooting when one of her student's moms called her to cancel a class "because of the shooting." Her first thought was she knew who the shooter was after seeing the drawing of the gun, which prompted her to look at the worksheet again.
Around that time, Jennifer canceled their appointment, according to text messages between her and Pennock. They further talked about selling the family's horses to pay for legal fees. Pennock told the jury she didn't feel bad for Jennifer since she gave lessons to some of the students that attended Oxford High School.
She also testified she was worried about Jennifer coming to the farm to bring medicine for the horses and asked her not to unless she was escorted by police.
9:39 a.m. Jennifer Crumbley returns to court
Jennifer Crumbley agreed to admitting the entire Facebook thread conversation between her and her husband into court.
The trial so far
Crumbley is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the Nov. 30, 2021, school shooting committed by her son. He's now in prison for life.
Evidence shown in court Friday included messages already previously revealed publicly, along with text messages that hadn't been shown before. These texts detail how Jennifer and her husband James reacted after learning about the shooting. James is facing the same charges as Jennifer and will go to trial later this year.
Jennifer Crumbley in court for her trial on Jan. 26, 2024.
In court testimony on Friday, Edward Wagrowski, a former forensic analyst for the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, discussed hundreds of messages sent back and forth involving Jennifer Crumbley. This includes specifically when the Crumbley parents learned their son was in trouble at school, how they reacted, and what they did when they learned of the active shooter at the school.
Jennifer was messaging the shooter minutes before the shooting, asking if he was OK and telling him that he could talk to his parents about anything. Earlier that day, parents had been called to the school after their son drew disturbing photos on a worksheet.
He responded by telling Jennifer that he loved her.
Jennifer didn't respond until more than 30 minutes later, when the shooting had been made public. She again asked if he was OK then texted, "Ethan don't do it."
After the shooting, Jennifer and James fled, authorities said. They were eventually found hiding in Detroit. Deleted messages to a man named Brian Meloche detail what Jennifer was saying during the search for them.
At 7:31 a.m. on Dec. 2, Jennifer sent: "We're on the run again. Helicopters … not sure where to I'll message you."
At 2 p.m., Jennifer said "We're f-cked."
'We are on the run again': Jennifer Crumbley texts friend after Oxford shooting
On day 2 of the trial, defense attorney Shannon Smith got a chance to cross-examine Wagrowski where she walked through more evidence about messages sent after the shooting – all of which was collected during the investigation into the shooting.