FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The judge in the Parkland mass shooting trial pulled the plug on jury selection Monday, then started over with a new panel of potential jurors to decide the fate of confessed killer Nikolas Cruz.
Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer’s decision scrapped two weeks of work narrowing the field of jurors from more than 1,200 to over 200 who, unless she changes her mind, will be told their services are no longer required. The judge is now telling new potential jurors the trial will not begin until June 21, a little over a week after her last released schedule.
Monday’s decision, which is facing a defense objection, came in response to a prosecution argument holding that errors in the jury selection process would be grounds for appeal if Cruz were to be sentenced to death for the murders of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.
The most recent mistake was the failure to send subpoenas to 11 improperly dismissed jurors who were supposed to appear Monday morning. The 11 were part of an April 5 panel, but they told Scherer that they could not “follow the law” in deciding the highly publicized, emotionally charged case.
Scherer dismissed the 11 without giving prosecutors or the defense an opportunity to question them further. Both sides objected on April 5, raising the prospect of what all parties were calling a “mistrial.” In practice, it would have meant starting from scratch on the third day of jury selection.
Scherer reached an agreement with attorneys to have the 11 jurors called back for further questioning on Monday. But days earlier, it became clear that none of the jurors had been notified about coming back to the courthouse.
“This is not harmless error,” said prosecutor Carolyn McCann on Monday, adding that “error has been embedded in these proceedings already.”
Defense lawyer Melisa McNeill objected to the prosecution’s motion and appeared stunned when Scherer granted the motion without hearing a full argument from the defense. After a recess, Scherer called in the next panel of 60 potential jurors.
Defense lawyers will make their argument to salvage the previous jury panels Monday afternoon.
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