The Florida Bar association has launched an investigation into one of the Parkland school shooter’s attorneys, who appeared at one point to raise her middle finger at a camera amid the dramatic and devastating legal proceedings.
The probe centers around the alleged courtroom behavior of Broward Assistant Public Defender Tamara Curtis, Bar association spokeswoman Jennifer Krell Davis told NBC News on Friday. The news comes just days after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz was handed 34 consecutive mandatory life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
While Davis did not provide additional details, some loved ones and victims condemned Curtis’ behavior online as well as during impact statements delivered on the final days of Cruz’s sentencing hearing.
“During courtroom arguments, Defense Attorney Tamara Curtis was frustrated by how the judge was receiving arguments that she was making,” said Fred Guttenburg, whose daughter was among the 17 killed in the shooting.
“She reacted by putting her middle finger to her cheek and rubbing her cheek with her middle finger and then laughing about it with the murderer who was sitting next to her.”
Annika Dworet — whose son, Nicholas Dworet, was killed by Cruz — blasted the defense for “holding, touching, and giggling with this cold-blooded murderer.”
