Judge will allow jury to see video of Oxford school shooting, hear witnesses testify during Crumbley trials
(CBS DETROIT) - A judge has denied requests from James and Jennifer Crumbley and ruled that the jury will be shown footage from the day of the Oxford School shooting and that two witnesses will be able to testify.
The attorneys for both Crumbley parents had requested that three eyewitnesses be banned from testifying at their trials.
According to new court documents, the witnesses include Molly Darnell, a teacher at Oxford High School who had made eye contact with the shooter before he fired shots, and Kristy Gibson-Marshall, the assistant principal at the high school.
The parents tried to keep them from testifying, claiming their details would be "irrelevant to the elements of the charges."
Oakland County Judge Cheryl A. Matthews ruled that the witnesses can focus their testimonies on the following:
- the identification of the shooter
- the identification of the gun
- the location of the gun
- their (the witnesses') observations of the shooter
The witnesses will not be allowed to give details about rendering aid, personal suffering, or emotional trauma as that is not "relevant to prove the elements of the crime of involuntary manslaughter."
Regarding the surveillance video footage being shown, Matthews said that the video of the shooting that will be shown is taken from a distance and doesn't have audio, so no screaming, gunfire noises or any other sounds will be played, which weighs in favor of it being shown.
In addition, the video is relevant because it shows the shooter, his criminal behaviors, the gun and the deaths of four students.
"The video depicts the immediate scene of these deaths in this matter and is highly probative to an element of the charge of involuntary manslaughter," according to the court documents. "While the video in this matter is prejudicial, its probative value is not outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice."
James and Jennifer Crumbley are charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection to the Oxford School shooting in which their son killed four students, Justin Shilling, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, and Hana St. Juliana, and injured seven other people.
In December 2023, the shooter was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
