James and Jennifer Crumbley, parents of Oxford High School shooting suspect Ethan Crumbley, have each pleaded not guilty to the four counts of involuntary manslaughter with which they’ve been charged by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office for their alleged role in the incident.
After the formal reading of the charges against each of the Crumbleys and the entering of four not-guilty pleas for each of them, the judge asked for recommendations for bond amounts from the prosecution. In light of the fact that the Crumbleys had failed to turn themselves in, prosecutor Karen McDonald asked for the bond to be set at $500,000.
Defense attorney Shannon Smith appealed to the judge for a lower bond of $50,000-100,000.
Our clients are going to fight these charges. Our clients are just as devastated as everyone else. Bond has to come from a place of legal soundness not emotional reaction which has driven this entire case. And it is emotionally charged. It is emotionally the worst thing I have ever been involved with and seen. There is no doubt it’s the worse thing the Crumbleys have ever been involved with and seen. There is just so much going on here and we ask the court to set a reasonable bond.
Smith also asserted that McDonald was attempting to create “a media spectacle” out of the case by wrongly accusing the Crumbleys of fleeing, not communicating with the defense, and cherry-picking the facts.
When it comes to the seriousness of the offense, when you listen to the prosecution’s facts they’re presenting—which are incomplete, very incomplete—it does sound like an absolutely egregious wrongdoing on the part of Mr. and Mrs. Crumbley that they gave their child a gun and encouraged him to do this. That’s just not the case and Mrs. Crumbley is presumed innocent.
I ask this court to note that full discovery has not been available and that the court is only aware of the facts the Prosecution has presented, but that gun was actually locked, so when the prosecution is stating that this child had free access to a gun, that is just absolutely not true.
Did you catch that? The gun used in the school shooting was locked, but we’d never know that from listening to the MSM. Once again, just as in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, the MSM is spreading lies and misleading half-truths about the facts of a pending trial. For example, The New York Times reported the gun was “stored unlocked in the parents’ bedroom,” ABCNews reported that “the gun had been kept in an unlocked drawer,” The Detroit News reported “their son had access to an unsecured weapon,” and USA Today reported the gun “had been stored in an unlocked drawer in their house.”
Related: [WATCH]: Detroit Police Chief Describes the Arrest of Michigan School Shooting Suspect’s Parents
“We need an opportunity to fight this case in court and not in the court of public opinion,” Smith said. “We need the opportunity to have our clients’ constitutional rights to being presumed innocent protected.” The Crumbleys’ attorneys said that their clients “were never fleeing prosecution” and that the missed court appearance was a result of miscommunication with the court. Defense attorney Mariell Lehman also claimed McDonald was trying to “make an example” out of the Crumbleys.
Finally, the judge said the purpose of the bond is to ensure the defendants appear in court, and in light of the serious nature of the charges and the fact that the Crumblys “had to be apprehended for purposes of arraignment,” she set the bond at $500,000 each. Even if the Crumbleys are able to post bond, the judge decreed they must also not test positive for alcohol, marijuana, or other controlled substances; not possess any firearms or other dangerous weapons; have no assault behavior toward anyone; provide their address; submit to and pay for urine analysis; verify employment status; wear a GPS tether and only leave the house for approved work, medical appointments, and attorney meetings; and turn over any and all weapons.
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