Jennifer Crumbley's parenting of shooter son picked apart during closing arguments
Jurors were left Friday with two depictions of Jennifer Crumbley at the end of closing arguments in her involuntary manslaughter trial.
PONTIAC, Mich. — Jurors were left Friday with two depictions of Jennifer Crumbley at the end of closing arguments in her trial: on one hand, an aloof mother who had multiple chances to prevent her son's deadly school rampage, and on the other, a hypervigilant but imperfect parent who could not have foreseen such violence.
Whether Crumbley's decisions around the time her son, Ethan, opened fire at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, make her partially responsible for his actions will play into the jury's finding of guilt or innocence of involuntary manslaughter.
Deliberations are expected to begin Monday in the unprecedented trial — a rare attempt to hold the parent of a school shooter accountable.
"I am Jennifer Crumbley," her lawyer, Shannon Smith, told jurors during her closing argument, implying that any parent who is working and raising teenagers may inadvertently find themselves in the defendant's position.
"This case is a very dangerous one for parents out there," she added.
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