Taking away Scot Peterson’s pension is unconstitutional, attorney says.

Attorneys representing former Broward Sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson put state officials on notice Tuesday that proposed legislation to strip him of his state pension is unconstitutional and will be challenged in court if passed.

Bills filed by state Rep. Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, and state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, would deny Peterson a pension, only allowing him to receive back any personal contributions he made into the Florida Retirement System. Peterson, the former school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, has been vilified for failing to go after the shooter during the February 2018 massacre.

Peterson was allowed to retire a week after the shooting and is now collecting a $105,263 annual pension.

Attorney Joseph A. DiRuzzo III said the bills are illegal “bills of attainder” that seek to inflict punishment on Peterson without a judicial trial, as well as an illegal taking of his property — his pension benefits — by the state. DiRuzzo included the information in letters sent to Roach, Gruters, Gov. Ron DeSantis, House Speaker Jose Oliva, Senate President Bill Galvano and Sen. Kevin Rader.

“We ask that these bills be removed from consideration and, in all events, not become law in order to avoid needless litigation,” DiRuzzo wrote.

The annual state legislative session officially started Tuesday.

The legislation was also on the agenda at Tuesday’s Broward County Commission meeting, where Mayor Mark Bogen sought to have commissioners pass a resolution supporting the bills. Bogen withdrew the resolution after being rebuffed by commissioners who did not want to be “judge and jury” over Peterson’s fate.

Commissioners Barbara Sharief and Nan Rich said it was premature given Peterson had not been indicted or convicted of any wrongdoing.

Sharief, whose father was shot and killed by a 15-year-old robber when she was 14, said she understood how hard it is to lose someone to gun violence. But she opposed the retroactive punishment against Peterson and said “this going back and forth is not allowing our community to heal.”

“If I could have exacted this type of retribution on that kid who did that to my father and changed the course of my life, I would have,” Sharief said. “But my problem is, is that no amount of firing, no amount of taking people’s pensions away, is going to bring back their loved ones.”

Rich said there are still investigations into the shooting underway, including by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and those should be allowed to be completed. Surveillance video showed Peterson waiting outside the school building while Nikolas Cruz fired away inside, killing 17 and wounding 17 others.

“He is under investigation. All these investigations are still open,” Rich said. “He has not been indicted for anything. He has not been convicted of anything. That’s up to our judicial system, not up to the county commission and, in my opinion, not up to the state Legislature.”

Peterson declined to testify in front of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission. Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed in the Parkland shooting, has filed a wrongful death suit against Peterson.

While withdrawing his resolution, Bogen defended his stance against Peterson, who he said chose not to act.

“He was the only one on that campus that was empowered and took an oath and said that he would defend with deadly force by having a gun. He did nothing. This was intentional,” Bogen said.

Commissioner Michael Udine said although he knew the proposed state legislation might not pass a constitutional challenge because it is written to affect only one person, he supported Bogen’s resolution nonetheless.

“I think that it’s offensive to people when they see the amount of benefits that somebody is just allowed to retire with after this happens,” Udine said.