Accused school shooter Ethan Crumbley to take stand in parents’ manslaughter trial – New York Daily News

Ethan Crumbley, the teen accused of opening fire inside the halls of his Michigan high school, is set to take the stand in his parents’ upcoming manslaughter trial.

Armed with a gun recently purchased for him by his mother and father, Crumbley unleashed a hail of bullets in Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021. He fatally shot four classmates and wounded seven more people before surrendering to responding authorities.

His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, were arrested days later in the basement of an art warehouse in Detroit. They are accused of failing to intervene before the massacre, despite being called into the school for a sit-down with administrators regarding distressing and violent doodles discovered in their son’s notebook.

What’s more, the Crumbleys allegedly failed to secure the firearm used in the attack — a 9mm semiautomatic handgun — which they bought for their son just days earlier on Black Friday.

Both Jennifer and James, who are each facing four counts of manslaughter in connection with the school shooting, have pleaded not guilty.

Defense attorney Shannon Smith on Monday told Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews Crumbley’s testimony would be related to “extraneous matters” and not the school shooting itself.

“We need him as a witness in this trial,” said Smith. “There are just certain questions we would just not be able to ask. We do understand that.”

Matthews on Monday also rejected the Crumbley’s request to move the location of the trial. Their attorneys unsuccessfully argued the couple would not receive a fair trial in the county given the high-profile nature of the proceedings. The judge did however ban both the prosecution and defense from speaking about the trial in a bid to limit publicity.

A tentative date for the proceedings have been set for Oct. 24.

With News Wire Services