Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald on Thursday filed a brief in Oakland County Circuit Court in response to Jennifer Crumbley’s "meritless" motion to disqualify the Prosecutor’s Office from Crumbley’s case.

“As our brief makes clear, the defense’s motion was filed for an improper purpose,” said Prosecutor McDonald. “Our argument shows their motion is less a legal maneuver and more a cheap publicity stunt.”

According to a release from McDonald's office, the Prosecution's motion punctures the false narrative that the defendant was tried in the press.

"Among the deepest flaws in the deeply flawed motion is the suggestion that the media attention surrounding the Oxford High School shooting was generated by the Prosecutor’s Office. As defendant notes in her own brief, there was massive media attention in the hours immediately after the shooting, before the prosecution said a word. The Prosecutor’s Office was immediately inundated with hundreds of media inquiries. Unlike every other countywide elected official in Oakland County, on the day of the Oxford shooting, the Prosecutor’s Office did not have any communications person to receive and respond to the media. As the calls and inquiries poured in, the Prosecutor’s Office asked for, and the County Executive and Board of Commissioners approved of, the retention of crisis communications professionals to field and respond to those calls. The Prosecutor’s Office did the right thing by victims, the taxpayers, and the public by timely responding with accurate, reliable information.

"In her repeated references to a smear campaign, Jennifer Crumbley never points to any media coverage. That’s because there was no smear campaign, and because the negative portrayals of Jennifer Crumbley were the result of the facts. For example, her social media posts about buying her son a gun as an early Christmas present and taking him to the shooting range three days before the shooting, the drawing school officials texted to her and showed her on the day of the shooting, her decision not to take her son home, and her flight to a warehouse in Detroit instead of turning herself in.

"The Prosecution further argues the defense’s motion is not permissible under court rules as Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Matthews is already considering or has already considered these exact issues on an appeal, which is still pending. The Prosecution requests the Court impose sanctions on the defense for this irresponsible abuse of the court system.

"It is also important that the Court rules do not permit the filing of such a motion when an appeal is already pending. MCR 7.208(B)(1). This court should strike the motion as improperly filed."

“I respect the defendant’s right to an appeal and due process,” said Prosecutor McDonald. “However, this motion is outside the bounds of the normal adversarial process. It’s exploitative and disrespectful to the memories of Hana St. Juliana, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, and Justin Shilling and to the trauma of all the Oxford victims.”

If sanctions are granted, McDonald's office will request those payments go to charities supported by the Oxford School Shooting victims.

McDonald also filed a supplement to its response to address the misleading statements made by defense attorney Michael Dezsi to the media. Her office says during the press conference, Mr. Dezsi repeated the false statement that crisis communication firms were contracted in secret, which McDonald says is "blatantly false."

Her office said "The crisis communications firms were not hired in secret-they were known to every media outlet that covered the Oxford cases. The funds to pay them were allocated by the Board of Commissioners with the support of the County Executive, and their fees were paid by Oakland County, not the Prosecutor’s Office. None of that was secret. The work of the first firm was publicly reported almost 3 years ago - see Exhibit 2, Crains Business Detroit article from May 17, 2022. The retention of those crisis communications firms saved the taxpayers money when compared to the cost of a Public Information Officer-those fees were less than half the cost of a full-time PIO."