Jury selection in school shooter’s trial upended by juror’s T-shirt

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The already slow slog of picking jurors in the penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz hit a new stumbling block Monday when a potential juror’s T-shirt honoring those killed and traumatized in the 2018 massacre resulted in the dismissal of her entire group of 10.

The woman, a 58-yearold high school teacher, was wearing a T-shirt in the burgundy and silver colors of Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that read “Teacher Strong.” Below that were two hashtags that were commonly found on T-shirts and bumper stickers throughout South Florida long after the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting:

#msdstrong and #NeverAgain.

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to murdering 17 and wounding 17 others. The trial will decide whether he is sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.

The woman had been brought into the courtroom separately from the other nine potential jurors because she had written on her questionnaire that she has a medical condition that would prevent her from sitting for long stretches of time.

After that was discussed, Melisa McNeill, Cruz’s lead public defender, asked her about her T-shirt and how much contact she had with the other jurors. The woman said she hadn’t talked to the others, but they had all seen her shirt.

After the woman was asked to briefly leave the courtroom, McNeill told Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer that the entire group should be dismissed because the shirt possibly could have been prejudiced others against Cruz. Prosecutors agreed.

“She obviously did that to get out of jury duty. It was irresponsible,” Scherer said.