Parkland shooter can’t keep visitor list secret

Decision is latest defeat for lawyers seeking to keep Cruz off death row

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz cannot keep secret the names of the psychologists or anyone else visiting him at the Broward main jail, even if it undermines his right to a fair trial, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The decision by the Fourth District Court of Appeal is the latest defeat for the team of lawyers seeking to keep Cruz off death row.

Cruz, 20, is the gunman who walked onto the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018 and killed 17 people, wounded 17 others and traumatized scores more in a shooting spree that drove changes in state gun laws and electrified a national debate on gun control.

Defense lawyers had argued that the jail visitor list, typically a public record, might expose their trial strategy. Cruz stood mute last year when he was asked for a plea — refusing to admit or deny guilt.

Legally, the stance allowed the judge to enter a not guilty plea on Cruz’s behalf even though he has never denied being the shooter who terrorized the students and faculty of Stoneman Douglas.

Defense lawyers had argued to Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer that disclosing the names of Cruz’s visitors would tip prosecutors off to their trial strategy — the defense appears to be focused on keeping Cruz off death row, a strategy that would likely require the testimony of mental health experts.

If the experts’ names and specialties became public, defense lawyers argued, prosecutors would have an unfair advantage as they seek to have Cruz executed for the crimes.

Attorneys for media organizations, including the South Florida Sun Sentinel, had argued that the defense is not entitled to shield Cruz’s visitor list from public review. Judge Scherer agreed, and the Fourth District Court of Appeal upheld her decision.

The appeals court ruled that disclosing the information would do exactly what defense lawyers

argued — unfairly tip the public and the prosecution off to Cruz’s defense strategy. However, the appeals court decided, the state’s public records law does not contain any exemption that would shield the visitor log from release.

Previous decisions in related cases found that the content of private communications, including recorded phone calls, cannot be released unless the evidence is used by prosecutors. But the fact that the phone calls took place, and the participants in those calls, remained public information.

The visitor logs were treated similarly: The content of Cruz’s conversations with visitors, including mental health experts, cannot be disclosed, but the names of the people who visited him are a public record, the appeals court ruled.

Defense lawyers on Wednesday were reviewing the decision to determine whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court.