James Crumbley's jailhouse threats were to ruin Oakland prosecutor's life, sources say

Before going to trial, James Crumbley threatened Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald in jail communications with his sister, the Free Press has learned from multiple sources.

Specifically, the now-convicted father went off to his sister about how he was going to make it his goal in life to destroy McDonald, the sources said. According to a source close to the prosecutor's office, the threats included James Crumbley allegedly saying things like she was going to hell soon, she better be scared and she was done.

These alleged threats occurred in multiple phone calls dating to 2022 — with most occurring in 2023, the sources said — though prosecutors waited until the middle of Crumbley's trial to bring them up, despite knowing about them for months. No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the incidents.

The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment.

Crumbley’s alleged threats surfaced during his trial — though not in front of the jury — and resulted in him losing access to his jail communications through the rest of the trial, which ended with him being convicted of involuntary manslaughter for his role in the November 2021 mass shooting that was carried out by his son at Oxford High School.

“James Crumbley’s access to a telephone and electronic messaging while in the Oakland County Jail has been limited due to threatening statements he made while on the phone and in electronic messages. His access to a phone or electronic messaging is now limited to communication with his lawyer,” the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said in a March 7 statement to the Free Press.

The sheriff’s office declined to elaborate, and has since declined requests by the Free Press to offer more information about the alleged threats. Reached Monday, the office issued a statement saying it "does not have anything further to add at this moment.”

Both Crumbley parents face up to 15 years in prison

James Crumbley’s lawyer, Mariell Lehman, declined comment.

James Crumbley is scheduled to be sentenced on April 9, alongside his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, who was also convicted of involuntary manslaughter on Feb. 6. They each face up to 15 years in prison and are the first parents in America to be held criminally responsible for a mass school shooting carried out by their child. Their son, Ethan Crumbley, who murdered four classmates and injured seven other people using a gun his father had purchased him as an early Christmas present, pleaded guilty to all his crimes and is serving a life without the possibility of parole.

Crumbley’s alleged threats involving the prosecutor surfaced in the middle of his trial. The prosecution raised the issue in open court, with Crumbley’s lawyer immediately objecting to the issue being made public.

More than that, defense attorney Mariell Lehman objected that prosecutors brought up the issue in the middle of the trial, suggesting the information was known for some time, but was raised strategically during his trial to make her client look bad.

How the dispute played out in court

When the issue came up during trial, Oakland County Judge Cheryl Matthews urged both sides to come up with an agreement and cautioned that the media would be writing about it — suggesting something embarrassing or incriminating was about to be exposed.

The two sides, however, came to an agreement that the prosecutor explained like this: Crumbley's communications privileges would be revoked, but not his ability to talk to his lawyer or research information to help his defense.

James Crumbley maintained that he never saw any signs that his son was a threat to anyone, that he never knew of his son's plans to shoot up his school, that the gun at issue wasn't really a gift but could be used only at the shooting range with parental supervision, and that the gun was not easily accessible to his son: It was hidden in an armoire, unloaded in a case, with the bullets hidden in a separate drawer.

Prosecutors, though, argued to the jury that James Crumbley ignored a troubled son who was spiraling downward, and instead of getting him help, he bought him a gun, failed to properly secure it and never disclosed that gun to school officials when given the chance.

In the end, the jury sided with the prosecution.

As the jury foreman told the Free Press in an exclusive interview: "The lack of securing the gun … I mean, that's what caused all this."

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Sources: James Crumbley was threatening prosecutor in jail phone calls