Sheriff's Office blasts prosecutor for parents of Oxford shooting suspect being on the lam

[SouthBayDem]

Source: Detroit Free Press

Oakland County sheriff officials blamed the county prosecutor Friday for the parents of the suspect in the Oxford High School mass shooting being on the lam.

"In my entire 44-year career, I have never, ever seen a prosecutor announce charges in a major case without the suspect being in custody first," Oakland Undersheriff Mike McCabe told the Free Press.

"We don't let people turn themselves in," he said. "When a warrant is authorized by a judge, we go and get them."

The tragic and deadly shooting spree at Oxford High School is highlighting divisions between county offices headed by Sheriff Michael Bouchard, a Republican, and Prosecuting Attorney Karen McDonald, a Democrat.

Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/12/03/oakland-county-sheriffs-blasts-prosecutor-parents/8862325002/

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Police: Metro vs Sherriff.

There's a whole lot of social disconnect between the 2 agencies.

[RockRaven]

2. Weren't there media publications saying the parents were being observed by LEOs, and then

and for some reason they were not, and then they scarpered?... Was that LEO agency the Sheriff or the police?

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Yes, I saw a graphic yesterday that indicated such

Given room to run, suspects usually contact somebody. That's how you flush out networks or even accomplices.

[gldstwmn]

3. The prosecutor is a Democrat and former judge

who ran on a reform platform and beat the Republican incumbent. I don't think the sheriff is a fan judging by his comments on tv tonight.

[iluvtennis]

23. Thanks for this tidbit on the prosecutor. So glad she has charged the parents as they need to

take responsibility for not securing the gun and FOR NOT GETTING THEIR SON THE MENTAL HEALTH CARE HE NEEDED.

[gldstwmn]

24. Absolutely. Her willingness to prosecute them is a step in the right direction

and gave me hope until the judge set bail for them this morning.

[Sancho]

4. The prosecutor proved her point without opportunity for police to help...

...the parents in any way. She may have suspected police or MAGA sympathizers, so she announced the charges. The guilty ran, and the sheriff or local maghats didn’t have any way to interfere, get rid of evidence, etc.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. So the lid might come off the way things was always run around there

Yeah, they wouldn't want that to happen. Anywhere. Something might change for the better and decrease someone else's power.

[gldstwmn]

25. This is exactly my thinking as well. She did it that way for a reason.

I watched her on CNN last night and I got the impression she was up against it.

[madaboutharry]

5. There is obviously some history there.

It seems to me that the sheriff and the prosecutor have clashed in the past. IMO, the sheriff is acting unprofessionally by making his grievances public. That is the kind of thing that is kept behind closed doors.

[groundloop]

11. EXACTLY. The sheriff needs to shut the fuck up and do his job.

[llmart]

8. Bouchard is turning this into a political issue.

Make no mistake about it. She's a Democrat, female and he's part of the gold ole' boys network in Oakland County.

[DallasNE]

9. Is THe Sheriff Even RIght On THe Facts?

People do perk walks all of the time. They are allowed to turn themselves in when charged. What grounds are there for taking someone in to custody without being charged which triggers an arrest warrant to be issued. I think the Sheriff is being unprofessional and political in this statement.

[reACTIONary]

16. Right. And if the their lawyer was right...

... they had cleared out well before the charging decision.

[christx30]

17. You can decide to charge someone, and arrest them,

and then announce charges. The sheriff’s point is that announcing charges contributed to the Crumbley’s decision to run. Hell, with as little faith as I have in the legal system, if I was charged with a crime, I’d run. Especially if I was innocent. I have no faith that I won’t spend 20-30 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit. Prosecutors and cops lie. They coach eye witnesses what to say.

And keep walks happen after someone is caught. It’s not because they turn themselves in. It’s because some idiot in the prosecutor’s office wants to humiliate the suspect. It’s part of the process. That picture in the paper of a guy in cuffs with his head down.

[gab13by13]

10. As the prosecutor said on Nicolle Wallace's show,

it was no secret she was going to press charges. This attack on her was pre-planned IMO to divert attention away from the real story that matters once again, guns. The right is going to attack the prosecutor to shift the narrative to her, it will be the lead story in the MSM.

[bronxiteforever]

18. +1

[GB_RN]

12. The Sheriff Is A Liar...

I've seen charges announced plenty of times before the suspect was apprehended. In fact, it happened just a few weeks ago, in a very high-profile, federal case: United States v Bannon. The charges were announced on a Friday afternoon and that fuck Bannon was unfortunately allowed to turn himself in the following Monday and make a media circus out of it.

[LeftInTX]

26. I really don't think the DA saw them as a flight risk

Hopefully, it did not give them cover to get rid of evidence in their home.

I hope the DA had the evidence she needed before a warrant was issued or announcing that they would be charged because I bet there was evidence.

[GB_RN]

28. A Lawyer Friend Told Me That No Competent DA...

Will charge any case that they aren’t sure is a slam dunk conviction…or at least a good shot at getting a guilty plea on.

[markpkessinger]

30. The couple were arrested at 10:30 p.m. Friday night n/t

[DownriverDem]

13. My bad

They were not charged with a misdemeanor.

[bronxiteforever]

14. Undersheriff McCabe has one boss. It's Mike Bouchard a major GOP figure.

Michael J. Bouchard is an American politician who has served as Sheriff of Oakland County, Michigan since 1999. Bouchard is a member of the Republican Party. From 1991 to 1999, he served in the Michigan State Senate. In 2006, Bouchard unsuccessfully ran for United States Senate, losing to incumbent Debbie Stabenow.

In 2006 his issue platform included the following:

For over two hundred years, we understood that judges were to interpret the law as written by our elected representatives - not make it up as they went along. Many liberal special interest groups have tried to use judges to change the law by interpreting it in a manner the Congress would not have recognized. These groups have used courts to obtain things like abortion on demand, gun control, and gay marriage – all things that the majority of voters oppose and that Congress wouldn’t approve.

As a life long law enforcement officer, I believe that strong borders are essential to our homeland security. As President Reagan used to say, “a nation without borders isn’t a nation.” Makes sense, doesn’t it? Our borders define where one nation begins and another ends – that’s why they call it a border. Senator Stabenow, however, has other ideas. She thinks we should have to ask Mexico if it’s all right to build a fence along our side of the border with them. Just in case they said yes, she voted against the funds needed to actually build the fence. One of her colleagues noted she was the biggest spender of your tax dollars in the US Senate. Protecting our borders is one of the few things she won’t spend money for. What she will spend money for is to pay illegal workers Social Security benefits, thereby making illegal immigration more rewarding. When I’m elected to the US Senate, strengthening our borders will be a priority of mine.

From https://web.archive.org/web/20061025191812/http://www.bouchardforussenate.com/


In American law enforcement, the undersheriff is the person second in charge of a sheriff's office.

[markpkessinger]

32. That talking point is made constantly by the anti-immigration folks . . .

. . . i.e., "If you don't have strong borders, you don't have a country." But it's a meaningless statement. I'm pretty sure that so long as we have a government, a military, and our government is recognized by other countries, we still have a country!

[twodogsbarking]

15. I doubt the real truth will be known.

Media.

[DENVERPOPS]

33. The media is already at work:

First, they diverted attention by blaming the school system and teachers.

Now, they are blaming the prosecutor and police, and further diverting attention away from this horrific act by the mother, father, and son.

What is next? Diverting attention claiming it was the lead in the water the kid drank growing up????????????

Diverting attention by starting propaganda that if we allowed religion to be taught in public schools this wouldn't have happened?

I shouldn't give the mostly Republican owned media any ideas, sorry..........

[twodogsbarking]

36. All that and more.

[Rebl2]

19. Thought the

parents went into hiding the day the son was arrested, from what I have read.

[msfiddlestix]

20. I can't speak to the underlying conflicts between the two entities, but I did find myself cringing

during the presser.

For the most part I felt she was very professional in her presser, until she started speaking about charges to be filed against the parents and others connected to the school.

It felt to me, that she had stepped over the line of normal reporting protocols, which effectively worried me with successfully prosecuting the cases she intended to pursue.

I felt like defense lawyers could claim the other charges tainted to the degree they would be thrown out by any of the courts.

I hope I'm wrong.

To her credit she returned to professional protocols while answering most of the questions. There were understandable emotions underlying some of the statements and responses to questions.

But I wasn't surprised to learn of the parents attempting to go on the lam after the press conference, and very glad to read they've been caught. Just hoping nothing the DA said damages the prosecutions at all involved/connected at the end of the day.

[DENVERPOPS]

34. She was probably still emotionally upset

by seeing pictures of the crime scene and victims........She is human after all, unlike ones who do things like this horrific type of crime...

In my opinion, they are all in some sub-human class of organisms........

[msfiddlestix]

37. Absolutely, I agree

I'm just hoping a few of her comments are not grounds for having the case thrown out once it comes before a gun humping judge.

[George II]

21. I hope this entire episode helps people understand why Merrick Garland isn't telegraphing....

....his every move.

[LeftInTX]

27. Yes!

[msfiddlestix]

38. I for one have not desired Garland's "every move" be telegraphed

Nor do I believe anyone else who shares my concerns that the multitude of crimes by TFG and his criminal enterprise along with the Jan 6 conspirators are essentially being allowed to skate right on by, continuing to grift in plain view, campaign for elections, eventually seizing power. It doesn't take a Harvard Grad to see what's at stake here.

It's tremendously disconcerting to see my fellow Democrats purposely ignoring the obvious and ridicule those of us who are alarmed by what we are seeing everyday, and the complete lack of response to crimes committed in plain site.

[JohnnyRingo]

22. That's how we arrest politicians.

Maybe the prosecutor thought that's how it's done now, where they announce the charges and wait for the lawyers to make proper arrangements for surrender.

The sheriff has a point.

[markpkessinger]

29. They were arrested at 10:30 Friday night . . .

. . . so it doesn't seem to have been too much of a problem.

[markpkessinger]

31. Given that they were found so quickly . . .

. . . it is pretty obvious that police had a good idea where they were. And it occurs to me that by giving them an opportunity to try to run, the prosecutor may have strengthened her case, since fleeing can be construed as consciousness of guilt.

[DENVERPOPS]

35. Didn't it also

add to the charges and potentially the sentence they receive if found guilty????????????

[former9thward]

39. No.

There were never informed officially they were being charged. Whether they knew about them is besides the point legally. They will not be charged with fleeing and any sentence they receive will not be affected.

[DENVERPOPS]

40. Thx NC

[inthewind21]

42. About that

Their attorneys were aware of an arraignment. And if their attorneys were aware, they were too. You don't have an arraignment unless you are being charged with something.

“On Thursday night we contacted the Oakland County prosecutor to discuss this matter and to advise her that James and Jennifer Crumbley would be turning themselves in to be arraigned,” the statement from attorneys Shannon Smith and Mariell Lehman said. “Instead of communicating with us, the prosecutor held a press conference to announce charges."

The statement added: “They are not fleeing from law enforcement despite recent comments in media reports.”

The parents’ arraignment had been scheduled for late Friday afternoon, but as of 5 p.m., the parents were still missing, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

https://detroit.cbslocal.com/2021/12/03/despite-manhunt-2-attorneys-say-parents-of-oxford-shooting-suspect-ethan-crumbley-are-not-fleeing/

[former9thward]

44. They were "missing" for a grand total of three hours.

Much ado about nothing.

[inthewind21]

41. What it did do though

other than making them look guilty as hell was raise their bond to a level they can't make and ensure they would be sitting in jail until their trial. Don't see any right wingers stepping up to the plate for these two.

[Vinca]

43. I've found her frequent appearances for television interviews a bit disconcerting. I can see

maybe a single interview, but it's become a near daily thing. You'd think this would be tainting the potential jury pool.