Rafael Olmeda / South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Defense lawyers for confessed Parkland gunman Nikolas Cruz are asking Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer to recuse herself, saying she took her criticism of their team too far when they rested their case without warning earlier this week.

Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, expressing concern for the victims and their families, said she will not display the graphic material on television monitors in the courtroom, nor will she allow them to be transmitted to a nearby room where dozens of local and national media outlets will monitor the proceedings.

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down a South Florida church that says its designation as a “hate group” is preventing it from collecting donations from online shoppers, rejecting a chance to make it easier to sue organizations for libel and defamation.

Amid a tumultuous jury selection process, defense attorneys want to the confessed Parkland school shooter to avoid consideration of the death penalty.