Jennifer Crumbley's attorney quotes Taylor Swift lyrics in opening statements
(CBS DETROIT) - The trial for Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter, is underway, and the second day of testimony started on Friday morning.
On Thursday, Jennifer Crumbley broke down in tears as she watched surveillance video of her son walking through the high school's halls with a gun in hand on Nov. 30, 2021, the day of the shooting.
The day started with opening statements, and her attorney, Shannon Smith, quoted Taylor Swift's song "Bad Blood."
The defense attorney said that on her way to the trial, she blasted Taylor Swift in her car to calm her nerves, and she heard a line that she says resonated with the trial.
"Band-Aids don't stop bullet holes," she said, referring to Swift's lyric, "Band-Aids don't fix bullet holes."
Smith claims that the prosecution is trying to put a Band-Aid on problems that cannot be solved using a Band-Aid.
"The prosecution has charged Jennifer Crumbley with involuntary manslaughter in an effort to make the community feel better, in an effort to make people feel like someone is being held responsible, in an effort to send a message to gun owners, and none of those problems will be solved by charging Jennifer Crumbley with involuntary manslaughter," Smith said.
The defense attorney said charging Crumbley is equivalent to giving a child a Band-Aid, as charging her doesn't take away the pain.
"A Band-Aid will never bring back the lives that were lost," Smith said.
Rep. Matt Koleszar, who serves Michigan's 22nd district, responded to the comparison in a social media post, saying it was "disgusting and disrespectful."
"Firearms are the #1 cause of death among American youth, led largely by unsecured guns like the one used in Oxford," Koleszar said in the post. "This comparison is flippant, disgusting & disrespectful to the many lives lost far too young because adults refuse to be responsible gun owners. That changes 2/13."
Jennifer Crumbley is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the Oxford High School shooting when her son killed four students, Justin Shilling, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, and Hana St. Juliana, and injured seven other people.
Smith also said the mother didn't have any way of knowing her son would ever take a gun to school or that he would ever shoot people.
The defense also said Jennifer Crumbley did her best as a mother. She took her son to soccer practice, basketball, bowling and urgent care.
Smith said Jennifer Crumbley is a "hypervigilant mother who cared more about her son than anything in the world."
The prosecution said she was aware of her son's mental health issues, and even so, bought her son a gun and brought him to a gun range.
When referring to the shooting, Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Marc Keast said the students weren't sick and weren't in a crash, but they were murdered by Jennifer Crumbley's son.
"Jennifer Crumbley didn't pull the trigger that day. But she's responsible for their deaths," Keast said.
Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents to be charged in a U.S. mass school shooting. James' trial will begin on March 5.
