Jennifer Crumbley tears up as she takes stand in shooting trial

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Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of a convicted school shooter, took the stand in her trial and wiped away tears when the court showed photos of her son.

Ms Crumbley is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter, to which she has pleaded not guilty. Her husband, James Crumbley, is being tried separately in March. Their trials are historic, as no parents have ever been charged or tried for their alleged role in a mass school shooting.

The 45-year-old took the stand after the jury has heard from numerous witnesses, including school officials, over the past two weeks. The prosecution is arguing that Ms Crumbley ignored her son’s “downward spiral” and gave him access to a gun, while the defence has described Ms Crumbley as a “hypervigilant” mother and that her son’s declining mental health was “not on her radar”.

While on the stand, Ms Crumbley was asked to walk through photos that were posted on her social media pages. While looking at photos of her son — including one of him holding his pet chinchilla — she began choking up.

She began her testimony by saying that public speaking was “probably my greatest fear” so she was “very nervous.” Her attorney even noted that she looked increasingly red while talking on the stand and asked her if she was okay. She dismissed it as usual behaviour and that she often gets hives when she’s nervous.

She also told the court that she tends to “hold things in” and to express emotions out when she’s alone.

Ms Crumbley was asked about her son, the convicted school shooter. Ethan enjoyed a “lot of different interests,” she said, including bowling, soccer, metal detecting, BB guns and target practice, video games, and coin collecting.

She said she and her son skied together.

“It was normal. Normal family stuff,” she said, describing hosting Thanksgiving and Easter.

When asked about Ethan’s school performance, she said, “He did good if he applied himself.” Ms Crumbley said “he was about average” in school and had “up and down grades.” Ms Crumbley said she “battled” her son frequently over his missing assignments.

The mother said that while it was a “regular thing” to hear from teachers about missing assignments but that she never heard from the school about any discipline issues.

Defence attorney Shannon Smith asked about the fire department captain Brian Meloche, whom she had an affair with. Mr Meloche testified earlier in the day.

She said she had known Mr Meloche since high school and that he was a “member of the horse community.” Ms Crumbley estimated that she saw Mr Meloche once a week for six months. The affair began in the spring of 2021.

They often met when he was coming back from the firehouse in the mornings, she said.

Ms Crumbley said the affair didn’t impact her ability to care for Ethan.

Ms Crumbley explained her son had two bedrooms. The mother explained that Ethan moved out of his bedroom and into a guest bedroom because she “didn’t want to clean his room anymore” since his initial room was so messy.

Her attorney also mentioned text messages between her and her husband.

Ms Crumbley admitted that she talked “a lot more about the horses” than her son in these text exchanges because James Crumbley didn’t know horses like she did, so she would explain to her husband how to take care of them while she was at work. “Horses can’t talk,” she said, but she could talk to her son after school.

The 45-year-old was asked about her former job. She testified that she had worked as a marketing director at a real estate acquisition company for five years, a job that she said she cared about “ a lot.”

Her husband had a tough time finding a job, so she said she would send him job openings.

She said she and her husband haven’t spoken since they were arrested — more than two years ago.

Throughout the trial, the defence has maintained that Ms Crumbley didn’t know much about guns and has emphasised her husband’s love of firearms.

When asked about guns, Ms Crumbley testified that she “didn’t really feel comfortable” being in charge of guns, so her husband took on that role.

She said that James had two guns, which were stored in a gun safe, before buying the gun for their son. The 9mm gun was in its case and had a cable lock — its key was stored on one of her German beer steins in the kitchen, she said, but didn’t know which one it was in. She added that she’s a collector of German beer steins.

Ethan wasn’t allowed to take out the gun unless her husband was around, she testified. She didn’t know if her son knew which beer stein the key was stored in.

When Ms Crumbley and Ethan went to the shooting range, she said that her husband had gotten the gun ready for her by removing the cable lock and putting it in the car.

Ms Crumbley also testified about a voicemail for the school counsellor about looking up bullets in class. She said the message ended on an “upbeat” note, saying that her son went back to class and he understood what he did wrong, so she didn’t call the counsellor back. She said she and her 15-year-old discussed it when he got home from school.

The court was shown emails between emails between Oxford High School staff. Despite communicating amongst one another, Ms Crumbley testified that she was unaware of these concerns. She said the first time she had seen these exchanges was during the course of this case.

Ms Crumbley was also asked about her son’s mental state. In the spring of 2021, Ms Crumbley said she was being “quieter than normal,” but said he’s normally a “quiet kid.” She said he was “stressed out” because he was falling behind in school while he and his family were in Florida for two weeks after his grandmother passed away.

She described his quietness as a “phase” and said she didn’t think he needed to seek professional help.

She also offered conflicting testimony to Mr Meloche. Earlier on Thursday, the firefighter testified that Ms Crumbley told him that the 9mm gun was in her car on the day of the shooting; Ms Crumbley said that wasn’t accurate and he “must’ve been confused.”