Jurors within the trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz ready to stroll by means of the still blood-spattered rooms of a three-story building at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Thursday, visiting the scene the place he murdered 14 students and three staff members 4 years in the past.
The seven-man, five-woman jury and 10 alternates shall be bused beneath heavy safety the 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the Broward County Courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale to the suburban school, the place courses do not resume till later this month. Law enforcement plans to seal off the world across the campus and plane could also be barred from flying overhead to stop protesters from interrupting the proceedings and to shield the jurors’ security.
The panelists and their regulation enforcement escorts shall be accompanied into the building by Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, prosecutors and Cruz’s attorneys. Cruz won’t be current, in accordance to considered one of his attorneys.
Prosecutors, who’re winding up their case, are hoping the visit will assist show that the previous Stoneman Douglas scholar’s actions had been chilly, calculated, heinous and merciless; created an incredible threat of loss of life to many individuals and “interfered with a government function” — all aggravating components beneath Florida’s capital punishment regulation.
Under Florida courtroom guidelines, neither the decide nor the attorneys are allowed to communicate to the jurors — and the jurors aren’t allowed to converse with one another — after they retrace the trail Cruz adopted on Feb. 14, 2018, as he methodically moved from flooring to flooring, firing down hallways and into lecture rooms as he went. The jurors have already seen surveillance video of the taking pictures and photographs of its aftermath.
Journalists won’t be allowed inside till after the jurors depart, and won’t be allowed to carry cameras.
The building has been sealed and surrounded by a chain-link fence since shortly after the bloodbath. Known each because the freshman and 1200 building, it looms ominously over the school and its academics, employees and three,300 college students, and will be seen simply by anybody close by. The Broward County school district plans to demolish it at any time when the prosecutors approve. For now, it’s a courtroom exhibit.
“When you are driving past, it’s there. When you are going to class, it’s there. It is just a colossal structure that you can’t miss,” said Kai Koerber, who was a Stoneman Douglas junior at the time of the shooting. He is now at the University of California, Berkeley, and the developer of a mental health phone app. “It is just a constant reminder … that is tremendously trying and horrible.”
Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder; the trial is only to determine if he is sentenced to death or life without parole.
The building’s interior has been left nearly intact since the shooting: Bloodstains still smear the floor, and doors and walls are riddled with bullet holes. Windows in classroom doors are shot out. Rotted Valentine’s Day flowers, deflated balloons and other gifts are strewn about. Only the bodies and personal belongings such as backpacks have been removed.
Miami defense attorney David S. Weinstein said prosecutors are hoping the visit will be “the final piece in erasing any doubt that any juror might have had that the death penalty is the only recommendation that can be made.”
Such web site visits are uncommon. Weinstein, a former prosecutor, mentioned in additional than 150 jury trials courting again to the late Nineteen Eighties, he has solely had one.
One purpose for his or her rarity is that they’re a logistical nightmare for the decide, who wants to get the jury to the placement and again to the courthouse with out incident or threat a mistrial. And in a typical case, a visit would not even current truthful proof: After regulation enforcement leaves, the building or public house returns to its regular use. The scene will get cleaned up, objects get moved and repairs are made. It’s why judges order jurors in lots of trials not to visit the scene on their very own.
Craig Trocino, a University of Miami regulation professor who has represented defendants interesting their loss of life sentences, mentioned the visit — mixed with the myriad graphic movies and pictures jurors have already seen — might open an avenue for Cruz’s attorneys in the event that they discover themselves in the identical scenario.
“At some point evidence becomes inflammatory and prejudicial,” he mentioned. “The site visit may be a cumulative capstone.”
Cruz’s attorneys have argued that prosecutors have used proof not simply to show their case, however to inflame the jurors’ passions.
Prosecutors are anticipated to relaxation their case shortly after the visit.