Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer refused to step down from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting case Monday, dismissing a defense demand filed Friday as “legally insufficient.”
It’s the only comment a judge is allowed to make when asked to recuse oneself, and Scherer did it in writing, handing copies of her ruling to attorneys on both sides without addressing it in open court.
Confessed gunman Nikolas Cruz appeared in court on Monday along with his legal team from the Broward Public Defender’s Office, prosecutors and the judge, who are wrangling over what the state will and will not be allowed to say during its rebuttal case, which gets underway next week.
The rebuttal case gives prosecutors a chance to address the arguments defense experts made seeking mercy based on the mental health issues suffered by Cruz throughout his life, based on alcohol and drug abuse by his biological mother while she was pregnant.
The defense wanted Scherer off the case because, in their eyes, she took her criticism of their team too far when they rested without warning last week.
The judge’s comment that her criticism of lead prosecutor Melisa McNeill was “long overdue” proved that she had a bias against the defense that “has infected this entire trial,” the defense argued.
Prosecutors, in their response, argued that the judge’s comments were not heard by the jury and did not jeopardize the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
Cruz pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Jury selection in the sentencing trial began in April, and the jury of seven men and five women is tasked solely with determining whether Cruz should be sentenced to death or life in prison.
Scherer said she will issue written rulings this week on two defense motions. The first limits the extent to which prosecutors can address the swastikas and hate speech found in Cruz’s possessions and correspondence. The second challenges a new expert witness who, defense lawyers say, will not be available for a pre-trial interview until Friday, giving the defense team no time to prepare for an effective cross-examination.
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