With jury trial selection back in the Broward County Courthouse in the case of the state vs. Nikolas Cruz starting up on Monday, prosecutors are requesting that previous weeks of jury selection be dismissed and that the panels of prospective jurors up to this point are struck.
“There are too many issues at this point,” said prosecutor Carolyn McCann. “It is better to start fresh,” she said.
It could happen. On Monday, Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer granted a motion from the prosecution. “We are going to start over,” she said.
At issue are 11 prospective jurors from Week 1 that the judge excused from the case after they said they could not “follow the law” before the defense had a chance to question them.
The procedural issue developed when Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer veered away from the limited scope of phase one on what was supposed to be asking prospective jurors if a possible four-month hearing would create hardships. Instead, she asked prospective jurors if they could “follow the law.”
She then excused 11 from the case who said they could not “follow the law” before the defense was able to speak to them.
The remedy discussed on April 6 was to bring them back to be questioned, an option legal analysts had said presents its own challenge given there are rules to not talk or read about the case, but that does not apply to excused jurors.
Over the weekend, the Clerk of Court’s office confirmed that no new summons for the jurors had been sent.
McCann, representing the state, made the argument that this “rises to the level of reversible error” and that the best move would be to start over, which would mean striking all panels from the first six days.
“Error has been vetted and this is a capital case. What happened on April 5 when there were asked if they could follow the law and then the show of hands, it is reasonable that it had everything to do with the death penalty,” McCann told the court Monday. “It is a minefield,” she said.
The defense stated that it is preparing arguments that they want the judge to consider after lunch. The judge said her ruling to grant the motion to start over was “without prejudice,” meaning she could revisit the decision.
If the decision sticks, it will push the trial back a week from the most recent schedule.
Scherer told Monday’s prospective jury pool: “We anticipate that the trial will begin…May 20th (corrects herself) June 20th. The courthouse is closed on the 20th so it should begin on or about the 21st…the earliest, which is a Tuesday.”
(This is a developing story. Stay tuned to Local 10 News at noon and Local10.com for updates throughout the day.)
Continue reading...
“There are too many issues at this point,” said prosecutor Carolyn McCann. “It is better to start fresh,” she said.
It could happen. On Monday, Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer granted a motion from the prosecution. “We are going to start over,” she said.
At issue are 11 prospective jurors from Week 1 that the judge excused from the case after they said they could not “follow the law” before the defense had a chance to question them.
The procedural issue developed when Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer veered away from the limited scope of phase one on what was supposed to be asking prospective jurors if a possible four-month hearing would create hardships. Instead, she asked prospective jurors if they could “follow the law.”
She then excused 11 from the case who said they could not “follow the law” before the defense was able to speak to them.
The remedy discussed on April 6 was to bring them back to be questioned, an option legal analysts had said presents its own challenge given there are rules to not talk or read about the case, but that does not apply to excused jurors.
Over the weekend, the Clerk of Court’s office confirmed that no new summons for the jurors had been sent.
McCann, representing the state, made the argument that this “rises to the level of reversible error” and that the best move would be to start over, which would mean striking all panels from the first six days.
“Error has been vetted and this is a capital case. What happened on April 5 when there were asked if they could follow the law and then the show of hands, it is reasonable that it had everything to do with the death penalty,” McCann told the court Monday. “It is a minefield,” she said.
The defense stated that it is preparing arguments that they want the judge to consider after lunch. The judge said her ruling to grant the motion to start over was “without prejudice,” meaning she could revisit the decision.
If the decision sticks, it will push the trial back a week from the most recent schedule.
Scherer told Monday’s prospective jury pool: “We anticipate that the trial will begin…May 20th (corrects herself) June 20th. The courthouse is closed on the 20th so it should begin on or about the 21st…the earliest, which is a Tuesday.”
(This is a developing story. Stay tuned to Local 10 News at noon and Local10.com for updates throughout the day.)
Continue reading...
