By Eric Levenson, Lauren del Valle and Celina Tabor | CNN
Jennifer Crumbley sent several messages criticizing her own parenting ability and discussing how the family’s firearm was secured shortly after her teenage son Ethan carried out a school shooting at his Michigan high school in November 2021, according to messages revealed in court Wednesday.
“I failed as a parent. I failed miserably,” she wrote.
Jennifer Crumbley wrote the messages as part of a lengthy conversation with Brian Meloche, a firefighter captain who testified he was in an extramarital romantic relationship with her at the time of the shooting.
Jennifer Crumbley has pleaded not guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of the four students in the shooting at Oxford High School. Her husband, James Crumbley, is scheduled to go to trial on the same charges in early March.
Prosecutors have accused her of gross negligence for disregarding the risks when she and her husband bought their son a gun four days before the shooting, even though he was struggling with his mental health and experiencing hallucinations. They also said his mother did not mention the gun or mental health issues to school officials in a meeting to discuss Ethan’s disturbing drawings just hours before the fatal shooting.
Her attorney Shannon Smith argued in opening statements that the blame lay elsewhere: On her husband for purchasing the firearm and encouraging the hobby; on the school for failing to notify her about her son’s behavioral issues; and on Ethan himself, who actually pulled the trigger.
The defense indicated during opening statements that Jennifer Crumbley would testify.
Under oath Wednesday, Crumbley waived a pretrial ruling from the judge that had barred evidence about her extramarital affair from coming in at trial. Crumbley said she trusted her lawyer’s strategy change.
“Her life is more important than her dignity in terms of – she had an affair, lots of people…
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