FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Jurors will trace the path of the confessed Parkland gunman at the high school where he murdered 17 people. The trip to the crime scene will be Thursday morning, as the prosecution continues its portion of the sentencing trial.
The gunman’s defense attorneys waived Nikolas Cruz’s right to be there. He remains isolated from other inmates in Broward’s main jail.
The freshman building has been preserved as a crime scene in preparation for this day. The jury will be allowed to observe the items and rooms left behind after the shooter roamed the hallways at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, firing into classrooms or shooting as people fled through the hallways of the three-floor building.
Prosecutors say the visit will help the jury understand the horror of that day as they consider the death penalty.
The crime scene is the 1200 building of the Stoneman Douglas campus, commonly called the freshman building. Cruz has confessed to walking into the building shortly before dismissal on Valentine’s Day 2018, assembling an AR-15-style rifle, and opening fire.
The building has not been used since the shooting, and a new freshman building has been put in place, but the school district cannot demolish the old building until prosecutors no longer need it. They have argued that keeping the building until now has been “an absolute necessity,” because it offers a true depiction of how and where the massacre happened, they say.
Jurors were told the trip to the crime scene would be to “assist you analyzing evidence,” and Judge Elizabeth Scherer instructed them not to touch anything or point anything out to another juror. They will not be escorted through the building, but have received guidance on which areas they can observe. Jurors will be offered shoe coverings, and their phones — which have camera capability — will be held by the Broward Sheriff’s Office during the trip.
Nobody is scheduled to be on campus during the jury’s visit; staff is expected to return to campus next week and the school year begins Aug. 16.
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