FORT Lauderdale, Florida (AP) – Lawmakers defending Florida school shooter Nicholas Cruz had to pull him aside and surround him on Tuesday after a jury member made possible threats against him and made others “excited” by driving them to fear a potential brawl, officials said.
A 70-member set of potential jurors was flocking to the courtroom and taking their seats when one of the first to enter, a man in his 30s, began cursing at Cruz, District Judge Elizabeth Scherer said. Cruz, 23, faces a possible death sentence for the murder of 17 at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on February 14, 2018.
Bailiffs intervened quickly to remove the man, who shook his head vigorously and repeatedly muttered, “This is awful,” as he passed reporters sitting in the back of the courtroom.
At the time, several other jurors were “excited” and said something that could not be heard, Scherer said. Then the first man began to look back over his shoulder at Cruz. Half a dozen armed deputies, always standing right behind Cruz, then grabbed him and surrounded him, fearing that the first juror would run up to them and join him.
“The sheriff’s office is monitoring all this and has decided to protect Mr Cruz,” Scherer said.
“One incites and then there are many followers,” said Broward Sheriff’s Captain Osvaldo Tianga, the court’s security chief.
Melissa McNeill, Cruz’s chief public defender, told Scherer that she understood that MPs’ first priority was to defend Cruz and everyone in the courtroom, but did not realize that this would require his physical relocation.
“I think this is the job. “I don’t dispute their actions,” McNeill said. But she wondered if MPs could just stand between Cruz and the threat if something like this happened again.
Tianga said the situation was different, but he would consider her proposal.
Cruz pleaded guilty in October. 12-member, eight alternative juries are selected in a two-month, three-stage process to decide whether to receive the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole. More than 1,800 jurors passed through the courtroom, most of them without incident since the trial began on April 4th.
One panel of 60 was due to be removed on April 12 after eight became apparently emotional after seeing Cruz, possibly influencing the others. About a dozen others were quietly removed from various panels as they began to cry.
The panels were not said to have been highlighted as potential jurors by Cruz, although it is widely known throughout South Florida that the trial has begun. At this point, potential jurors are only wondering if they can serve from June to September, the expected length of the trial. Those who can will be returned next month for further questioning.
Tuesday was a boring, routine day. This was a significant difference from Monday, when Scherer announced he was firing 250 potential jurors who had passed the initial check-up due to a possible mistake he had made and was starting the selection process all over again. Two panels of 70 were spent without significant incidents. Several potential jurors were quietly brought to tears.
But that changed when the first panel of judges was introduced in the afternoon. With most of their eyes focused on filing jurors, Cruz’s lawyers caught the bailiffs’ attention by directing them to a juror № 19. They intervened to remove him, starting the series by pulling Cruz aside for defense. .
After leaving the courtroom, the man told lawmakers that he was not trying to cause problems, but was emotional and wanted to curse Cruz, using obscenity to express his opinion, according to a reporter who was in the hallway.
In the courtroom, Scherer and the lawyers talked quickly, and the judge then dismissed the entire panel, which she said had become “militant” as they waited for the elevator to take them back to the lobby and “shut up” to lawmakers.
The juror, who started it all, told lawmakers that they – or perhaps the system – had traumatized potential jurors, according to the reporter.
Scherer said lawmakers followed the group from the courthouse to make sure they did not say anything to future jurors waiting to be brought to its courtroom.
The selection of the jury will be renewed on Wednesday.
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