Jury selection in the trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz must start over after a dispute over a possible judge's error.
Judge Elizabeth Scherer speaks with Assistant State Attorney Carolyn McCann, left, and Assistant Public Defender Tamara Curtis during a sidebar discussion prior to jury pre-selection 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 Monday, April 25, 2022. Cruz previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings.
at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. More than 1,200 candidates had been screened.The 12-member jury that will be selected after a two-month winnowing process will decide if Cruz, 23, is sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. The restart will push back opening statements from June 14 to June 21.
Scherer told both sides that while they think she made a serious error by not questioning the 11 jurors, she disagrees. She said she was only deferring to their opinion to move the case forward.questioning of a group of 60 potential jurors, the fifth of 21 panels screened before Monday.With every other group, Scherer only asked if the potential jurors had any hardships that would make it impossible for them to serve from June through September.
“What the state is seeking to prevent, more than anything else, is a penalty phase that has been tainted at this early stage,” he said. If Cruz receives a death sentence, that could result in it being thrown out on appeal, he said. “From their perspective, the judge can wipe the slate clean and start over."
For Cruz to receive the death penalty, the jury must vote unanimously for that option. If one or more vote against it, he will be sentenced to life without parole.
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