OXFORD, Mich. – A lieutenant testifying during Jennifer Crumbley’s trial said the parents of the Oxford High School shooter would be facing murder charges if there was evidence that they had seen the shooter’s journal.
During the sixth day of Crumbley’s trial, the prosecution called Lt. Timothy Willis to the stand. Willis was the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant in charge of the investigation into the Oxford High School shooting.
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After he testified about several statements found within the shooter’s journal, Willis was cross examined by Crumbley’s defense attorney, Shannon Smith.
Smith began a line of questioning that was intended to show the jury that her client had never seen her son’s journal. Smith wanted to establish that Crumbley shouldn’t be held accountable for journal entries that she didn’t know existed.
“You don’t have any evidence to suggest that Mr. or Mrs. Crumbley ever saw the journal, correct?” Smith asked.
Willis asked her to repeat the question a couple of times.
“Do you have any evidence to believe that Mr. Crumbley or Mrs. Crumbley saw the journal?” Smith clarified.
“No, if I had evidence of that, I imagine the charges would be different,” Willis said.
“If you had evidence that they saw the journal, the charges would be different?” Smith asked.
“Yeah, murder, I imagine,” Willis said.
Both parents of the Oxford High School shooter are facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter -- one for each of the students who were killed by their son during the shooting.
Prosecutors bear the burden of proving that the parents were grossly negligent and missed obvious warning signs that the shooter was a danger to others.
Jennifer Crumbley is being tried now, and her husband’s trial is scheduled to begin March 5.