Jennifer Crumbley's attorney says court delaying her right to appeal conviction

Louis Aguilar and Myesha Johnson, The Detroit News on Jun 1, 2025

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Jennifer Crumbley's attorney has filed a complaint claiming the Oakland County Circuit Court is delaying her right to appeal her conviction by not deciding on her motions for an acquittal, new trial or request for a bond in the required time.

Attorney Michael Dezsi's filing Saturday with the Michigan Court of Appeals says the delay "constitutes a denial of Crumbley’s right to Due Process and, more importantly, denies her right to bond pending appeal ... ."

To remedy the "injustice," Dezsi asks the appeals court to order the judge to make an immediate decision on the motions.

In February 2024, Crumbley was convicted in a jury trial on four counts of involuntary manslaughter arising from the criminal acts of her son, Ethan, who shot and killed four students at Oxford High School in November 2021.

Ethan's father, James Crumbley, was also convicted on four counts of involuntary manslaughter in a separate jury trial in March 2024.

It was the first time in the U.S. that a parent was convicted of manslaughter for a mass shooting carried out by his or her child. Jennifer Crumbley was sentenced to 10-15 years in prison. Prosecutors said she acted in a grossly negligent way in storing a gun and ammunition where her son could access it.

Following Jennifer Crumbley's conviction, her attorney filed a motion for a new trial or acquittal and a motion for bond pending an appeal of her conviction. The Saturday filing cites a Dec. 2 letter from the court of appeals instructing the Oakland County Circuit Court to decide on the motions within 56 days.

"We have now been waiting for six months and we don't have decision on the motions," Dezsi told The News on Saturday. He added the request for bond "hasn't been quite six months but close to it. ...

"So long as the Oakland County Circuit Court does not or will not rule on those motions, we cannot seek appellate review," Dezsi said.

The News is seeking comment from Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews.

Matthews has been considering a remedy for "likely" discovery violations in the case. In April, Matthews again asserted that she believes prosecutors improperly failed to disclose agreements made with two Oxford High School officials shortly after the 2021 mass shooting, but she had not made a decision on what that meant for the shooter's parents.

In a statement issued Sunday, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said, “After a lengthy and fair trial, jurors concluded that Jennifer Crumbley's actions led to the Oxford High School tragedy and to the deaths of Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Justin Shilling, and Hana St. Juliana. A separate jury convicted her husband of the same charges.

"They have received timely appeals hearings. I will continue fighting to uphold the juries' verdicts in court. I will never stop fighting for Oxford.”

McDonald's statement also questioned the timing of the filing — on a Saturday when the court was closed — and said the filing has not yet been published by the court system.

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