Oxford High School Shooting – On the Wednesday that was exactly one year ago, Ethan Crumbley, who was then 15 years old, opened fire on his high school in Oxford, Michigan, causing the deaths of four innocent kids and injuries to seven more. The case against Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, was temporarily halted on Tuesday by the Michigan Supreme Court. James and Jennifer Crumbley are each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter for their alleged roles in Ethan’s crimes. The case against them was heard on Tuesday.
According to the judgment issued on Tuesday, “[W]e REMAND this case to the Court of Appeals for review as on leave granted, restricted to whether there was sufficient proof of causation to bind the defendant over for trial on the charges of involuntary manslaughter.” In his dissenting opinion, Justice Richard Bernstein stated that although if the parents’ case “raises a number of novel legal questions,” the appeal process is constructed in such a way that those issues are “examined after trial.” Bernstein’s opinion was not shared by the majority of the court.
In his dissenting opinion, the justice stated that “addressing causation at this stage will unnecessarily delay the trial processes,” which are scheduled to start in January. “In order to avoid unnecessary delay, I would prefer to remand to the Court of Appeals simply for that court to reconsider defendant’s challenge to the denial of the motion to quash in light of the concern articulated in Yost, as I believe any substantive questions pertaining to causation should not be addressed until after the trial is finished.” [Citation needed] “In order to avoid needless delay, I would prefer to remand to the Court of Appeals simply for that court to reconsider defendant.
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