PONTIAC, Mich. — The father of {the teenager} who fatally shot 4 college students at his Michigan highschool had his jail communication privileges restricted as a result of he made “threatening statements,” authorities mentioned Thursday.

James Crumbley, 47, is on trial for involuntary manslaughter in reference to the killings his son carried out at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit in 2021.

Crumbley’s jail telephone and digital messages have “been limited due to threatening statements he made while on the phone and in electronic messages,” the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office mentioned. A spokesperson didn’t present extra particulars about whom the alleged statements had been made towards.

A court docket order signed Thursday by the decide overseeing his trial stipulates that Crumbley’s communications at the moment are revoked, aside from together with his lawyer or authentic clergy or for utilizing his pill for analysis.

Ethan Crumbley, then 15, opened hearth on Nov. 30, 2021, with a 9 mm handgun that his father purchased 4 days earlier.

Prosecutors allege Crumbley gave his son the semi-automatic Sig Sauer handgun as a present and did not correctly safe it or intervene to cease his son from committing the murders.

Oakland County prosecutor Marc Keast informed jurors that Crumbley purchased his son a gun “even though he knew that his son was in the midst of total and complete social isolation and had been in a downward spiral of distress.”

Crumbley’s lawyer mentioned in court docket Thursday that he didn’t know his son posed any hazard or that he had entry to the gun.

The details about his alleged threats and new restrictions comes after a prosecutor needed to debate an unspecified subject in open court docket late Thursday after the jury was dismissed for the day.

Crumbley’s protection lawyer objected to discussing it in entrance of the media, and she or he briefly left the court docket to talk with the prosecutor. When they returned, they knowledgeable the decide they’d reached an settlement about revoking Crumbley’s jail communications, however would permit him to proceed conducting analysis, learn and collect data so he is ready to take part in his protection.

The prosecution mentioned in court docket that restrictions can expire after a verdict is reached as a result of “once there’s a verdict, a lot of the issues just fall away.”

Crumbley and his spouse, Jennifer Crumbley, had been charged individually with 4 counts of involuntary manslaughter in reference to their son’s killings, in uncommon felony instances that search to carry the mother and father liable for a faculty taking pictures.

Jennifer Crumbley, 45, was discovered responsible on all counts final month and might be sentenced in April. She faces as much as 15 years in jail on every depend, as would her husband if he’s convicted.

Ethan Crumbley pleaded responsible in October 2022 and was sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole.

Selina Guevara reported from Pontiac and Phil Helsel from Los Angeles.