Jurors were reportedly driven to tears in a Michigan courtroom as the prosecutors in the James Crumbley trial showed them footage of the defendant's teenage son calmly walking down his school hallway, while shooting and killing several classmates.
The surveillance footage captured Ethan Crumbley's terrified classmates running away, while he shot and killed Tate Myre - whose smiling school photo was shown after the video concluded. This is expected to be the final evidence presented before the prosecution rests their case, the Detroit Free Press reported.
James and his wife Jennifer Crumbley were each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after their son killed four classmates and injured seven others at Oxford High School in a November 2021 shooting. Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty on all four counts of involuntary manslaughter last month and could face up to 15 years in prison.
Michigan prosecutors' decision to charge a school shooter's parents with homicide-level crimes was unprecedented, but many advocates believe this could prove to be an effective strategy for combating the country's mass shooting epidemic.
The parents of victims Justin Shilling and Madisyn Baldwin were also seen crying in the court room, witnessing the shooting that led to their children's deaths. James Crumbley looked away from the video and swallowed hard but did not cry. In contrast, his wife reportedly began sobbing when the same video was shown during her trial, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Crumbley's attorney, Mariell Lehman, argued that the video should not be shown in court because it was intended to make the jurors emotional, without adding new information to the trial. Lehman further argued that the Crumbleys were not being charged with the shooting itself - rather their cases dealt with the actions leading up to Ethan killing his classmates.
Just hours before Ethan killed his classmates, his parents were called into the school to meet with a teacher, according to testimony heard in court. Ethan had drawn a gun and a bullet-ridden body on a math assignment, accompanied by the words "The thoughts won't stop. Help me." During their meeting with several school officials, the Crumbley's expressed concern but did not mention that they had purchased a firearm for Ethan.
Ethan was allegedly struggling with mental illness and begged his parents for help. During James' trial, prosecutors showed jurors journal entries where Ethan wrote "I want help but my parents don't listen to me so I can't get any help" and "I have zero HELP for my mental problems and it's causing me to shoot up the f------ school," the Detroit Free Press reported.
