Jurors within the trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz are anticipated to stroll by means of the nonetheless blood-spattered rooms of Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Thursday in a visit to the three-story building the place he murdered 14 college students and three employees members 4 years in the past.
The seven-man, five-woman jury and 10 alternates will probably be bused underneath heavy safety the 30 miles from the Broward County Courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale to the suburban school. Law enforcement plans to seal off the world across the school and plane could also be barred from flying overhead to stop protesters from interrupting the proceedings and to defend the jurors’ security.
Carline Jean/South Florida Sun-Sentinel by way of AP
The panelists and their regulation enforcement escorts will probably be accompanied into the building by Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, prosecutors and Cruz’s attorneys. Cruz is not going to be current, in accordance to one among his attorneys. Prosecutors, who’re winding up their case, are hoping the visit will assist show that the previous Stoneman Douglas pupil’s actions had been chilly, calculated, heinous and merciless; created an incredible threat of death to many individuals and “interfered with a government function” – all aggravating components underneath Florida’s capital punishment regulation.
Under Florida courtroom guidelines, neither the decide nor the attorneys are allowed to converse 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 ground to ground, firing down hallways and into lecture rooms as he went. The jurors have already seen surveillance video of the capturing and pictures of its aftermath.
Journalists is not going to be allowed inside till after the jurors go away, 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 as the freshman and 1200 building, it looms ominously over the school and its lecturers, employees and three,300 college students, and could 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,” mentioned Kai Koerber, who was a Stoneman Douglas junior on the time of the capturing. He is now on the University of California, Berkeley, and the developer of a psychological well being telephone app. “It is just a constant reminder … that is tremendously trying and horrible.”
Cruz, 23, pleaded responsible in October to 17 counts of first-degree homicide; the trial is barely to decide if he’s sentenced to death or life with out parole.
The building’s inside has been left practically intact for the reason that capturing: Bloodstains nonetheless smear the ground, and doorways and partitions are riddled with bullet holes. Windows in classroom doorways are shot out. Rotted Valentine’s Day flowers, deflated balloons and different presents are strewn about. Only the our bodies and private belongings such as backpacks have been eliminated.
Miami protection lawyer David S. Weinstein mentioned prosecutors are hoping the visit will probably 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 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 death sentences, mentioned the visit – mixed with the myriad graphic movies and photographs jurors have already seen – may 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.
On Wednesday, the jury additionally heard extra impression statements from households who misplaced family members within the bloodbath, CBS Miami reported.
Among them, are Tony and Jennifer Montalto whose 14-year-old daughter Gina was killed.
They described the devastating results on their household.
“Gina was kind, smart, and loved to read,” her father Tony mentioned as he recalled Gina saving a 2-year-old from drowning when Gina was simply 10 years previous.
Max Schacter mentioned his household is damaged too. His 14-year-old son Alex died within the mass capturing.
“Part of me will always be sad,” mentioned Schacter.
His son Brian learn a poem that Alex had written and thrown within the trash earlier than the day of the killings.
The poem was entitled “Life is like a roller coaster” and relates how the ups and downs of life resemble a fast-moving curler coaster.
Max Schacter has recited the poem on a number of events to honor his son’s reminiscence and illustrate the lack of a promising author.
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