On Feb. 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 14 students and three staff members. Almost four years later, in Oct. 2021, Cruz began trial and pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder. The continuation of his trial began earlier this year in April and is set to decide if Cruz will be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. But in recent weeks, the trial has undergone multiple internal conflicts between the prosecution, defense and judge, Elizabeth Scherer.
Moments of unprofessionalism in the courtroom have come up in the past, but tensions came to a head when the defense abruptly rested their case on Sep. 14, after hearing only 25 testimonies from the eighty that were scheduled to testify. The defense’s decision came as a complete surprise to everyone in court that day, impacting the prosecution considerably as they weren’t given any warning or time to begin their rebuttal.
The decision by lead defense attorney, Melisa McNeill, to rest their case so early on resulted in a two-week hiatus from the trial for the prosecution to prepare a rebuttal case. It was also met with immediate backlash by Scherer who, on record, called their behavior “some kind of game” going on to say, “this is the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case.” Scherer scolded the defense for being inconsiderate and wasting the time of the prosecution, jury and everyone involved. During the ordeal, McNeill defended herself claiming “you are insulting me on the record in front of my client,” to which Scherer fired back “You’ve been insulting me the entire trial.” Scherer went on to defend herself calling her own behavior “long overdue” as she listed grievances from the previous weeks on record, including instances of tardiness and blatant disrespect by the defense.
On Friday, following their in-court dispute, defense attorneys called for Judge Scherer to remove herself from the trial, Saying in a motion that she held bias and longstanding antipathy towards Cruz’s lead defense attorney, Melisa McNeill. The defense argued that Scherer’s animosity towards the defense council may affect Cruz’s ability to receive a fair trial and defended their decision to rest their case as abruptly as they did. Cruz also spoke out through an affidavit, claiming that the judge’s behavior “causes me to reasonably fear that the court is biased against my attorneys and me and I will not receive a fair and impartial trial.”
In response to this request, prosecutors issued a statement saying that “judicial comments, even of a critical or hostile nature, are not grounds for disqualification” they further defended Scherer’s actions, citing a 1994 supreme court ruling that holds that a judge’s “expressions of impatience, dissatisfaction, annoyance and even anger” during a trial are not grounds for a mistrial.
At this time, Scherer hasn’t revealed any indication of plans to step down from her role and judge. The trial resumed in late September and is set to finish during the week of Oct. 10.
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