Jury selection is scheduled to resume Monday in the Nikolas Cruz penalty phase trial.
They may also discuss a defense motion filed on Friday asking “to continue this trial for a reasonable period of time to allow the wave of emotion surrounding the recent mass shootings to subside so that Mr. Cruz can be tried by a jury free from bias and prejudice against him for events that are not relevant to his crime, his background, his character or his life.”
In its motion, the defense says last month’s deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas “has opened old wounds for the Broward County community and has heightened anxiety for Broward students and parents.”
The motion says based on publicity, the parallels drawn between Parkland and two potential jurors who “indicated that their ability to be fair and impartial has been affected by the Uvalde shooting….to make any attempt to conduct a fair, constitutional trial in the wake of the Uvalde and Buffalos tragedies would be futile.”
Since this was filed, there have already been other mass shootings over the weekend to include gun violence incidents in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The issue of the Texas school shooting’s impact to the Parkland death penalty case also came up one day after the shooting on May 25.
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They may also discuss a defense motion filed on Friday asking “to continue this trial for a reasonable period of time to allow the wave of emotion surrounding the recent mass shootings to subside so that Mr. Cruz can be tried by a jury free from bias and prejudice against him for events that are not relevant to his crime, his background, his character or his life.”
In its motion, the defense says last month’s deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas “has opened old wounds for the Broward County community and has heightened anxiety for Broward students and parents.”
The motion says based on publicity, the parallels drawn between Parkland and two potential jurors who “indicated that their ability to be fair and impartial has been affected by the Uvalde shooting….to make any attempt to conduct a fair, constitutional trial in the wake of the Uvalde and Buffalos tragedies would be futile.”
Since this was filed, there have already been other mass shootings over the weekend to include gun violence incidents in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The issue of the Texas school shooting’s impact to the Parkland death penalty case also came up one day after the shooting on May 25.
Continue reading...