FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Defense lawyers asked Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer to step down from the Parkland mass shooting case Monday, hours after threatening to withdraw as counsel over an order to continue picking jurors while a key member of the defense team is home fighting COVID.
Scherer denied the motion.
Melisa McNeill, the lead defense lawyer for confessed gunman Nikolas Cruz, said Scherer’s order mandating her participation in jury selection represented a conflict of interest — McNeill believes she will not be protecting her client’s rights if she follows the judge’s order, but the attorney threatens her own freedom if she refuses.
At the heart of the dispute is the absence of defense lawyer Casey Secor, who was diagnosed with COVID last week and is at home following CDC quarantine recommendations.
“He is a critical member of the team,” McNeill said. “He is not here today because he has COVID. He is following federal guidelines.”
In light of the motion to recuse the judge, prosecutor Carolyn McCann urged Scherer to accede to the defense’s request for a one-day delay “in an abundance of caution.”
But Scherer was reluctant. “Where do you suppose that it ends?” she asked.
Secor was officially brought onto the case last November specifically to participate in jury selection. McNeill said Secor has been consulted on the case since 2019 but only announced his formal participation last year.
McNeill asked the judge for a one-day delay — Secor’s quarantine ends after Monday and if he tests negative, he can be back in court. Jurors in court Monday can be screened for hardship, McNeill offered, as long as they are not questioned about their views on the death penalty without Secor there to provide his expertise to the defense team.
Scherer, openly weary of delays, refused, arguing that if Secor’s participation is vital, he can monitor the proceedings on a live feed and communicate with the other lawyers by phone or text message. McNeill argued that would not be an adequate representation for Cruz, and attorneys on both sides of the case agreed that the live feed has not been consistently reliable for attorneys monitoring the case outside the courtroom.
At first, McNeill threatened to refuse to participate in jury selection, which would have created an issue for appeal should the jury recommend death for the 17 murders Cruz committed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. McNeill said the judge was forcing her hand, and that a delay would be the only way to protect Cruz’s constitutional rights.
The judge disagreed, noting that Cruz has a team of competent lawyers to protect his interests and that Secor was just one of more than 20 defense lawyers who have been attached formally to the case. Refusing to participate in jury selection would violate the ethics of the legal profession, the judge said.
Prosecutors urged the defense to proceed with jury selection. “The defendant is in no danger of not receiving competent representation” even without Secor’s presence, said Assistant State Attorney Jeff Marcus.
When Scherer openly ordered McNeill to participate in jury selection, McNeill asked to withdraw from the case, a motion Scherer denied. Now jury selection is on hold until later Monday afternoon, Scherer said, giving McNeill time to consult her office’s appellate lawyers and decide their next move.
———
