FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The deliberation room where 12 jurors decided the fate of confessed mass shooter Nikolas Cruz may have been a crime scene itself — a juror told prosecutors she was threatened by a fellow juror during deliberations.
Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer gave prosecutors permission Friday to release the name of the juror making the allegation to the Broward Sheriff’s Office to open an investigation.
The Sheriff’s Office said in an emailed statement Friday afternoon that it had received the information about the juror’s complaint from the State Attorney’s Office and would begin an investigation.
Scherer also said two jurors tried to get her attention after Thursday’s verdict was read. One asked a bailiff if there was an official way to “file a complaint.”
Neither of those jurors is the one who ended up calling prosecutors later Thursday afternoon, the judge said. According to a motion filed late Thursday, prosecutors wanted law enforcement to question that juror, who asked to speak to lead prosecutor Mike Satz.
The juror “informed the support staff member that during deliberations she received what she perceived to be a threat from a fellow juror while in the jury room.”
At a hearing Friday afternoon, prosecutor Carolyn McCann emphasized that her office is not trying to set aside Thursday’s verdict, which saw the jury reject the death penalty for each of the 17 murders Cruz committed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.
“Frankly we don’t want to touch this with a 10-foot pole,” McCann said. “This motion was filed for safety reasons ... A prosecutor cannot ignore a phone call that a threat has been made.”
A majority of jurors wanted Cruz to receive the death penalty. According to published reports of juror interviews, three panelists ended up rejecting the death penalty. One of them, Denise Cunha, wrote a letter to the judge that was published in the Broward clerk’s file, defending herself against an allegation that she never seriously considered imposing a death sentence.
“The deliberations were very tense and some jurors became extremely unhappy once I mentioned that I would vote life,” she wrote.
McCann and the judge emphasized that the Juror X in the prosecution’s motion on Friday was not Cunha.
Threatening a juror under Florida law is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Under state law, a jury’s decision to recommend death must be unanimous.
Scherer is bound by law to sentence Cruz to life in prison. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 1.
____
