Trial worsens the agony of MSD school shooting

Stop the Nikolas Cruz trial.

Now.

The proceeding has become farcical, overseen by a judge who is out of her depth and steered by a former state attorney who can’t let go of the case. It is not showcasing justice. It is showcasing the dysfunction of Broward County.

Seeking the death penalty in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas mass shooting would have challenged even the most seasoned, capable jurist. Elizabeth Scherer is neither.

On Monday of last week, both the prosecution and defense team accused Scherer of making reversible errors in jury selection. Without questioning them, Scherer dismissed 11 potential jurors who said they could not follow the law. Then on Wednesday, Scherer reversed herself.

The only thing worse than an agonizing, six-month trial to determine when Cruz will die in prison is the prospect of another one. Scherer’s mismanagement raises the chance of that happening.

Scherer, who maintains an Instagram account, got her appointment to the bench from former Gov. Rick Scott when she was in her mid-30s, over more experienced candidates. The judge’s father, lawyer William Scherer, was one of

Scott’s early Broward County supporters.

Then there’s Mike Satz, who was Broward’s state attorney for 44 years. Though Satz did not seek a 12th term in 2020, successor Harold Pryor has allowed him to be lead prosecutor for the Cruz trial.

Shortly after the shooting four years ago, defense attorneys proposed a deal to give Cruz life in prison without parole. Satz rejected it. He has claimed that if murdering 17 people doesn’t meet Florida’s death penalty standard, what does?

In fact, this trial reinforces the idea that it’s impossible to write a death penalty law that applies equally in all cases.

What happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is beyond the scope of any capital punishment system. The same goes for the Sandy Hook School shooting in which 20 first-graders and six staff died.

Only someone catastrophically broken psychologically could commit such crimes. Cruz’s mental health issues are not an excuse for what he did. But they are an explanation. In death penalty cases, an explanation is all defense attorneys need.

And all his legal team must do is persuade one of the 12 jurors that Cruz’s medical history presents enough of what Florida calls a “mitigating circumstance” against a death sentence. Florida no longer allows split decisions in capital cases, and Scherer couldn’t overrule a life sentence.

Picking a jury will be hard enough, given public awareness of the case. But the trial could last six months. Who will be able to serve except retirees and the unemployed?

Jurors may hear from nearly 1,000 witnesses. They will have to tour the building where the shooting occurred. It will be as if the victims’ families, the jurors and the community itself are being stretched on the rack.

Meanwhile, the community remains no closer to answering the lingering questions from that terrible day.

Is the Broward County School District, which lost track of Cruz, any better at monitoring students with mental health issues? We don’t know.

Is the county’s 911 system any better at allowing law enforcement agencies to communicate? Probably not, given last weekend’s story in the Sun Sentinel, which found 14,505 abandoned 911 calls in the month of February alone.

Even if the jury recommended a death sentence, Cruz would not die soon. It took 16 years for Florida to execute Danny Rolling, who murdered five college students in 1990.

In Newtown, Connecticut, there’s a new Sandy Hook School. The old one was demolished just a few months after the shooting. Connecticut does not have the death penalty.

In Parkland, Building 12 still stands. It’s evidence and must be preserved as long as the dispute about the sentence continues. That further prolongs and worsens the anguish.

Everyone’s heart breaks for the victims’ families. Any parent understands that their grief is immeasurable. Even a death sentence, however, could not return to the families and to Stoneman Douglas what Cruz took.

Some would not consider life without parole for Cruz to be justice. But there is no justice in reliving that horrible day now and potentially for decades. End the farce.