Parkland trial still in limbo
It’s been more than 1,000 days since a gunman with an AR-15 rifle burst into a Florida high school, killed 17 people and wounded 17 others.
Yet, with Valentine’s Day marking the three-year milestone, the trial of 22-year-old Nikolas Cruz is in limbo.
One reason is the pandemic, which has shut court operations down and made in-person jail access difficult for the defence. Another is the sheer magnitude of the case, with hundreds of witnesses from Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
The case could have been all over by now. Cruz’s lawyers have repeatedly said he would plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. But prosecutors won’t budge on seeking the death penalty at trial.
“We are dedicated to ensuring that justice is done and we are working diligently to ensure that the criminal trial begins as soon as possible,” said Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor, who was elected in November.
The longtime state attorney he replaced, Michael Satz, is staying on to personally prosecute Cruz. Satz has said Cruz’s fate must be decided by a jury, not by Cruz himself through a guilty plea.
Parents of those slain and wounded are divided over the death penalty, said Tony Montalto, whose 14-yearold daughter Gina was killed in the shooting and who is president of the victims’ family group Stand With Parkland.
There’s no doubt where Montalto stands. “The option for a long life was not given to our children and spouses — it was taken that day,” he said. “Society in general should demand that someone who attacked the most vulnerable, our children, at their school, a place of learning, should be held ultimately accountable. Our families have already paid the ultimate price.”
But Michael Schulman, the father of shooting victim Scott Beigel — a school cross-country coach and geography teacher hailed for protecting students — wrote a newspaper opinion piece in which he said it would be better for everyone if Cruz could plead guilty and be locked away for life.
“Going for the death penalty will not bring our loved ones back to us. It will not make the physical scars of those wounded go away,” Schulman wrote. “In fact, what it will do is to continue the trauma and not allow the victims to heal and get closure.”
Cruz had a well-documented history of mental problems, including an obsession with violence and death, before the shooting rampage when he was 19. His defence isn’t focused on his guilt or innocence; it’s more about sparing him from the death penalty, his lawyers have said in court.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer initially hoped to begin the trial in January 2020. That did not happen. Then everything was shut down when the pandemic struck in mid-March. No trial date has been set.