The judge in the trial of the confessed Parkland school shooter pushed back the start date yesterday.
Lawyers on both sides asked Judge Elizabeth Scherer for more time to interview witnesses, something she initially disagreed with.
“In what universe, does it take in any case, three months for jury selection?" she asked lawyers. "I've given discovery deadlines, I've given given trial schedules, amended trial schedules, case management schedules, and here we are.”
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But on Monday, April 18, Scherer ruled that the death penalty trial will start on June 13, pushing it back two weeks.
"This Court understands that the investigation process for the penalty phase has been ongoing for both parties and wishes to ensure that both sides have an opportunity to be prepared," Scherer wrote in the ruling. "While this Court has developed trial schedules throughout these proceedings, it has modified the schedules numerous times to ensure the parties have the time they need to prepare."
The delay will give the court more time to sort through hundreds of potential jurors in hopes of seating 20 jurors for the trial. A 12-person jury will decide if the shooter will die for the 17 murders he confessed to. There will be eight alternates as well.
The jury must come to an unanimous decision to give the death penalty.
It also gives the court time for a hearing to assess the validity of new expert witnesses, scheduled for the week of June 6.
Lawyers for the shooter argued that the State Attorney's Office violated discovery procedure by introducing four new expert witnesses after jury selection began.
Scherer disagreed.
"The State did not sit on information or witnesses without providing such discovery to the defense. Rather, the four expert witnesses were disclosed to the defense as soon as the State hired them," she wrote.
The debate over experts comes as results from Nikolas Cruz's neurological tests come in. Results from these complex tests were submitted by defense lawyers as late as March 17.
The state's lawyers had a right to hire experts who "may take a different view of the noted analyses. As the State asserted, these are complicated sciences and it must interview several experts to determine if they are able to analyze these specific neuroimaging tools," Scherer's ruling read.
Until the new start date, Scherer and lawyers will continue jury selection three days a week, leaving two days for hearings and depositions.
