Prosecutors within the high-profile Parkland faculty shooter trial have filed a movement to have regulation enforcement interview a juror who reported feeling threatened by a peer on the panel.
The movement by the Broward County State Lawyer’s Workplace was filed Thursday night.
It got here hours after the jury returned its verdict sparing Nikolas Cruz the dying penalty, and as a substitute recommending life in jail with out the potential of parole within the Feb. 14, 2018, bloodbath at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Highschool in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17.
Based on the movement, a juror known as “Juror X” referred to as the state legal professional’s workplace round 2 p.m. and requested to talk with Assistant State Lawyer Michael Satz, the lead prosecutor within the trial.
The juror advised a help workers member that “throughout deliberations, she obtained what she perceived to be a menace from a fellow juror whereas within the jury room.”
The movement says the state legal professional’s workplace didn’t return Juror X’s name however as a substitute filed a discover to the courtroom.
“The State requests an interview be granted to research this severe allegation as a result of against the law could have been dedicated,” the submitting mentioned.
The movement requests that regulation enforcement, relatively than the courtroom, conduct the interview with Juror X.
The jury’s verdict Thursday, which was extremely anticipated, left relations whose family members have been massacred by the gunman distraught, some visibly crying and shaking their heads in courtroom. In statements later, many mentioned the jury made the incorrect resolution.
The jury wanted to succeed in an unanimous vote on not less than one of many 17 counts — one for every sufferer — to advocate the dying sentence.
The jury decided there have been aggravating components that would warrant the dying penalty for every of the 17 victims — but in addition discovered mitigating components. In the end the annoying components didn’t outweigh the mitigating components, the jury discovered, and the shooter was sentenced to life.
