© Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS
Deputy Public Defender Melisa McNeill speaks with potential jurors during jury preselection in the penalty phase of the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. . Cruz previously pleaded guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and all 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings.
The Parkland school shooter case appeared headed toward a mistrial Tuesday following defense attorneys took issue with how the judge handled a group of jurors who testified they mightn’t follow the law in the case.
A mistrial at this stage in the proceedings would be a bump in the road: Two days of jury pre-selection would be eliminated, but lawyers might start from scratch on Wednesday morning.
Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer gave defense attorneys until Wednesday morning to decide whether to seek a mistrial following they protested firing 11 prospective jurors who said they mightn’t follow the law. in deciding whether to give the murderer the death penalty.
The judge later announced plans to call them in for questioning regarding whether they might handle the time commitment involved in the case, a plan that surprised legal experts.
The defense asked for 24 hours to consider whether to file such a motion. The judge offered five or 10 minutes, which led to a testy exchange between the defense attorneys and the judge. Ultimately, they were given until Wednesday morning to decide whether to request a mistrial.
Nikolas Cruz, who has already pleaded guilty to murdering 17 people and injuring 17 others, faces the death penalty. The case is expected to last up to six months.
Bringing back jurors who were previously fired raises a number of legal issues, experts said Tuesday. For one thing, dismissed jurors are free to discuss the case. By the time they are told to come back, prospective jurors might already have disqualified themselves simply by chatting with their friends and loved ones regarding their day in court.
“Once I’m fired, I’m no longer in the ‘venire,’” said defense attorney Bruce Raticoff, a former assistant public defender who is not on the case. Venire is the legal name of the group from which prospective jurors will be drawn.
Another issue that arose Tuesday was the realization that the first 239 jurors were brought into the courtroom, questioned, vetted, and fired or chosen to move on to the next phase, all without being sworn in.
Scherer did not swear in jurors until the fifth panel entered the courtroom on Tuesday. The error is considered fixable, according to defense attorneys, but additional errors might complicate the trial if it continues.
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