Oxford, MI – In an exclusive interview with New Media Detroit, Karen Crumbley — the sister of James Crumbley and aunt of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley — said Ethan later told her he did not understand what it meant when he invoked the Fifth Amendment during his parents’ criminal trials.
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Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to the murders of four Oxford High School students and other charges stemming from the November 2021 mass shooting. He was later sentenced as an adult to life in prison without the possibility of parole. By the time his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, stood trial in Oakland County Circuit Court on involuntary manslaughter charges, Ethan had already pleaded guilty as an adult and had already received his adult life sentence.
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Defense attorneys for James and Jennifer Crumbley sought to call Ethan as a witness during their trials. Prosecutors argued against Ethan being called to testify, and Oakland County Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews ultimately ruled he would not take the stand.
At the time of the proceedings involving his parents, Ethan Crumbley was 17 years old. He was represented by attorney Paulette Loftin. According to Karen Crumbley, Ethan later told her the decision to plead the Fifth came from his lawyer.
Karen Crumbley said she later visited Ethan in person and asked him why he pleaded the Fifth Amendment during his parents’ trials.
According to her account, Ethan appeared confused by the question.
“He said, ‘What’s that?’” she said during the interview. “And I said the Fifth Amendment — you pleaded the Fifth. And he said, ‘What is that?’ I had to explain it to him. I was shocked.”
She said Ethan told her he followed his attorney’s instructions.
“He said that’s what his lawyer told him to do,” she said.
Despite being housed in a Michigan prison at the time of the trials, Ethan Crumbley was never brought into the courtroom to testify. The jury and the public never heard Ethan personally invoke the Fifth Amendment in court.
The defense had sought Ethan’s testimony as part of their effort to challenge the prosecution’s case against the parents. His potential testimony could have addressed questions about what his parents knew about his mental state and actions leading up to the shooting.
James and Jennifer Crumbley were ultimately convicted of involuntary manslaughter, becoming the first parents in the United States convicted of crimes connected to a school shooting carried out by their child.
Karen Crumbley’s account now raises questions about Ethan’s understanding of the legal decisions made during those proceedings — decisions that ultimately kept the central figure in the Oxford High School shooting from ever testifying in the trials of his parents.
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