Hearings will likely be held Wednesday and Thursday earlier than the beginning of the penalty section for confessed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School gunman Nikolas Cruz. (CBS4)
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) — An total panel of potential jurors in Parkland college shooter Nikolas Cruz’s dying penalty trial, was dismissed Tuesday afternoon due to a perceived menace overhead by a Broward Sheriff’s deputy within the courtroom.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer defined what occurred in courtroom.
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“Number 19 was doing what you said, mouthing expletives and so on and so forth to the defendant which got number 9 excited and belligerent also which then went to number 25 who started to do the same type of thing. So as they are escorting 19 out, he turns around and they were under the impression he was going to try and come back at Mr. Cruz. Between that, number 9 and number 25, some of whom were wearing I guess masks that covered the majority of their face, they could not tell what was being said or what was going on other than there were three people that were in close proximity that were making a threat and there was another one in the back who started to join in and I guess with a combination of all of that the sheriff’s office observed all of that and they felt the need to protect Mr. Cruz.”
Not lengthy after that, the microphones have been minimize because the choose and deputies mentioned Cruz’s security.
A brand new jury panel was introduced in and questioned later.
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On Monday, Judge Scherer began the jury choice course of from scratch after prosecutors and protection attorneys argued that she made a mistake when she didn’t query 11 potential jurors who mentioned they might not comply with the legislation earlier than she dismissed them.
In granting the movement filed by prosecutors, she nullified two weeks of labor by prosecution and protection attorneys.
Cruz, 23, pleaded responsible in October to murdering 17 and wounding 17 at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.
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The 12-member jury that will likely be chosen after a two-month, three-step winnowing course of will resolve if he’s sentenced to dying or life in jail with out parole. Monday’s restart pushes again opening statements from their scheduled date of mid-June. They had already been delayed from May 31.