FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Parkland mass shooting trial became the scene of a tense standoff Monday pitting the defense, missing a critical team member due to COVID, against a Broward County judge who has grown openly tired of delays that have pushed jury selection into its third month.
Defense lawyers asked Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer to disqualify herself from the case against school shooter Nikolas Cruz on Monday after the judge ordered jury selection to resume even though the defense is missing one of its attorneys. The attorney, Casey Secor, was brought in specifically to assist the team at this stage of the proceedings.
Scherer denied the motion, but that came after the defense threatened to withdraw from the case.
