FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Months after he was jailed for the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the gunman picked a fight with a uniformed deputy guarding him at the Broward Main Jail, an altercation that was captured on surveillance video that was shown to a jury Wednesday.
The video, which had previously been released to the public, is not especially graphic. It shows gunman Nikolas Cruz, in his orange jail-issued jumpsuit, exchanging words with Sgt. Raymond Beltran before rushing the deputy and taking his stun gun.
Beltran testified Wednesday at the penalty phase trial of Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse. Prosecutors are asking jurors to consider the incident while deciding whether Cruz should be sentenced to death or life in prison.
The struggle between Cruz and Beltran lasted less than a minute on Nov. 13, 2018, and the stun gun was fired. No one was hit, but Beltran said he was worried.
“He could tase me, he could incapacitate me. I was fighting to get my Taser back,” said Beltran.
Beltran ultimately subdued Cruz and no one was seriously hurt.
Cruz was set to go on trial for that assault in October when he and his defense team apparently shifted their strategy, choosing to plead guilty not only to the jail battery, but also to the 17 murder and 17 attempted murder counts in the school shooting as well.
The jail case carries a maximum sentence of 15 years, but in light of the Parkland high school massacre, it will not have any real effect on Cruz’s punishment unless jurors decide it weighs in favor of imposing the death penalty.
So far defense lawyers have declined to cross-examine most witnesses, asking only a handful of questions to clarify legal issues or set the stage for the defense case. For example, when the merchant who sold the rifle to Cruz testified, defense lawyers got him to explain to the jury that the sale would have been illegal today. Cruz was 18 when he bought the gun. After the Parkland shooting, state law was changed to raise the age limit to 21.
With Beltran, the defense attorneys wanted to ask questions about an apparent reckless driving incident in Washington state. Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer ruled that the incident was not relevant to the jail assault and did not reflect poorly on Beltran’s honesty, so the jury never heard the questions.
Instead, Assistant Public Defender David Wheeler got Beltran to say he did not seek medical attention after the incident and that he was placed on administrative duty for more than two years afterward. At the time, defense lawyers tried to block Beltran from guarding Cruz, but as a matter of policy, the Sheriff’s Office never prohibited Beltran from doing so.
Prohibiting Beltran from guarding Cruz would have invited further assaults against jail deputies, lawyers for the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.
Testimony continued Wednesday with deputies testifying about the recovery of the defendant’s cellphone from the crime scene. When the trial opened, Assistant State Attorney Mike Satz told jurors about chilling videos Cruz recorded on that phone three days before the shooting. Cruz is seen excitedly discussing his shooting plans.
“It’s gonna be a biiiig event,” he said. “When you see me on the news, you’ll know who I am.”
The cellphone also contains the keys to the gunman’s social media history, which revealed his fascination with guns and his contempt for various religious and ethnic groups.
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