Audio recordings of James Crumbley's allegedly threatening jail calls released

Days after James Crumbley was sentenced to prison for his role in his son's deadly Oxford High School shooting, authorities released audio recordings of jailhouse calls in which Crumbley allegedly threatened Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald.

Editor’s note: The calls were edited by the Free Press to remove curse words.

In one of the calls, he acknowledges that he is being recorded by jail authorities — but rants anyway, stating:

"Yeah, Karen McDonald. You're going down. Yeah you stupid bitches at the f------ jail, go ahead. Record this call. send it to Karen McDonald. Tell her how James Crumbley is going to f------ take her down. She will not have a law license when I get done with her. Karen McDonald will be working at f------ McDonalds ... cause she ain't gonna be able to get a f------ job anywhere else."

The calls date back to 2022, and include profanity-laced tirades such as: "She really got it coming to her when I f------ get out" and, "Your ass is going down and you better be f------ scared.”

An investigator with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office who has reviewed the recordings wrote in a report:

"Most of the contents of the messages I have reviewed appear to be Mr. Crumbley complaining about court proceedings and courtroom tactics and Mr. Crumbley making comments about winning the matter in court and making Karen McDonald look bad to the public."

The Free Press obtained the audio recordings after filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, which also disclosed a report the prosecutor's office filed on March 11 about Crumbley's jailhouse calls and messages and asking for a review of potential threats made by James Crumbley.

More: Defiant Crumbleys head to prison — 'Not once did they say ... they're not the victims'

The prosecutor's office knew of these calls for more than a year, so it's unclear why it waited until March 11 — in the middle of Crumbley's trial — to file a police report about the phone calls.

In a statement late Friday, Chief Assistant Prosecutor David Williams explained the following:

"We raised the issue of the calls and threats privately with the court, the sheriff's office and defense counsel beforehand. We did that because James Crumbley was going to be sitting within a few feet of the prosecutor for two weeks, unshackled, and he presented a serious security threat. We did not mention anything at all about any calls or threats in the courtroom. We never publicly referenced the calls or threats until after the Free Press published that the threats were against the prosecutor, citing undisclosed sources."

The prosecution never publicly mentioned anything about these calls until the first day of Crumbley's trial, triggering a heated spat in the courtroom that resulted in the jury going home early. The prosecution, without elaborating, raised an issue in open court involving Crumbley's jailhouse communications, though Crumbley's lawyer immediately objected to the issue being made public, and the judge also warned that the media would be writing about it.

That evening, the Free Press reported what the controversy was about: It learned from the sheriff's office that Crumbley was caught making threatening statements on a jailhouse telephone and in electronic messages, and as a result, lost his communication privileges pending his trial. Details about the alleged threats were not disclosed.

The defense has maintained in court records that the prosecutor's office strategically disclosed the phone calls during trial just to make James Crumbley look bad.

Four days after the courtroom fiasco, the prosecutor's office filed its police report seeking an investigation by the sheriff's office, which denied multiple requests by the Free Press for information about to whom the threats were directed.

On March 18, in an exclusive story, the Free Press reported the target was McDonald.

Crumbley's lawyer, Mariell Lehman, has maintained that James Crumbley was never threatening to physically harm McDonald, but only venting his frustrations over how she handled his case, and that he wanted to see her eventually lose her law license.

The prosecutor's office used the phone calls against James Crumbley at sentencing, arguing the calls warranted giving him a stiffer punishment than what the guidelines called for.

Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews agreed and cited the phone calls during the sentencing hearing, telling James Crumbley he "threatened the wellbeing of the prosecutor."

According to the police report, the prosecutor's office provided a thumb drive to the sheriff's office on March 11 that contained jailhouse calls, messages and a spreadsheet listing potential threats.

An investigator went to speak to Crumbley in jail about the calls, the report shows, but Crumbley refused to talk.

"After reading Mr. Crumbley his Miranda rights, he indicated to me that he did not wish to speak to me or answer any questions without consulting with and/or having his lawyer present," the investigator writes in the report. "He indicated this on the Miranda warning form and signed and initialed it. No questions or anything else was asked of him any further."

Among the comments for which Crumbley is being investigated:

*On July 9, 2023, he is heard saying: "she really got it coming to her when I f------ get out."

*On Dec. 18, 2023, he is heard venting about being locked up and going "insane."

"James also makes a statement saying that they can listen to all of his phone calls and he doesn't care," the investigator writes.

*On Dec. 6, 2022, in a phone call with a relative, he says: "Well she's going to bef----- sucking on a f------ hot rock down in hell soon."

James Crumbley started his 10-15 year prison sentence Friday after a jury previously convicted him of involuntary manslaughter for his role in the 2021 Oxford High School mass shooting that left four students dead and six other students and one teacher injured. His wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was convicted of the same charges in a separate trial and got the same sentence as her husband.

At both trials, prosecutors argued the Crumbleys ignored a troubled then 15-year-old son who was in distress and spiraling downward, bought him a gun instead of getting him help, and did not properly secure the gun. They also argued that the Crumbleys — more than anyone else — could have prevented the tragedy had they disclosed to school officials that their son had access to a gun when given the opportunity.

The Crumbleys maintain they never saw any signs that their son would hurt anyone or himself, or that he was mentally ill; had no knowledge of his plan to shoot up his school; and that the gun at issue was not a gift, but came with restrictions: It was hidden in a bedroom armoire in a case, unloaded, with the bullets hidden in another drawer. They plan to appeal their convictions.

Contact Tresa Baldas:tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Audio recordings released of James Crumbley's threatening jail calls