Parkland prosecutors call for probe of juror threat

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Prosecutors of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz called for an investigation Friday after a juror said another panelist threatened her during the deliberations that ended with a life sentence for Cruz’s murder of 17 people four years ago at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Prosecutor Carolyn McCann told Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer during a brief hearing that prosecutors are not trying to invalidate Thursday’s jury vote and reported the threat only for safety reasons and so the Broward County Sheriff’s Office can investigate.

In their written motion asking for the hearing, prosecutors said the juror told them another juror did something during deliberations that “she perceived to be a threat.”

McCann said they did not ask any further questions because they didn’t want to taint any investigation and said the Broward state attorney’s office has no intention of getting involved further.

“We don’t want to touch this with a 10-foot pole,” she said.

Scherer agreed that if a possible crime was committed, deputies should investigate. The information has been turned over to sheriff’s investigators, who will contact the juror.

Florida criminal defense attorneys Richard Escobar and David Weinstein, who are both former prosecutors, said in interviews that even if a threat was made to a juror, the jury’s decision cannot be overturned because of double jeopardy, or trying the same defendant twice for the same crime.

Weinstein pointed to a 1990s case involving two drug kingpins who bribed a jury and were acquitted. Even under that circumstance, prosecutors couldn’t retry the duo for drug trafficking, but did convict them on charges stemming from the bribery.