The parents of the Oxford school shooting suspect want their trial moved out of Oakland County — or their jurors to come from elsewhere — arguing there's no way they'll get a fair shake given all the negative publicity about their case.
Perhaps more problematic, their lawyers argue, is the devastating impact the mass killing has had on their community — where the jurors would come from.
"The school shooting of Oxford High School, quite frankly, hits too close to home for the people of Oxford and Oakland County," defense lawyers Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman wrote in a late Monday filing, arguing James and Jennifer Crumbley deserve impartial jurors who have not been entrenched in the pain and trauma associated with the killings.
"Mr. and Mrs. Crumbley have been absolutely slaughtered in the pretrial publicity and court of public opinion even far more than (their son) who actually committed the premeditated murders," the defense lawyers wrote. "The community's reaction is viciously unfavorable to the Crumbleys."
The prosecution is partly to blame for that, the defense lawyers maintain, arguing Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald has publicly made false claims about the case and gone out of her way to taint the image of the parents.
"Mr. and Mrs. Crumbley simply want a fair trial with impartial jurors who do not have personal connections to the school shooting or its victims, and jurors who have not been influenced by the inflammatory media, particularly by stories...
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