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.
