FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — As the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting case inches closer to trial, the judge overseeing it is setting down strict rules to protect sensitive crime scene photos and videos from leaking to the general public.
Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, expressing concern for the victims and their families, said she will not display the graphic material on television monitors in the courtroom, nor will she allow them to be transmitted to a nearby room where dozens of local and national media outlets will monitor the proceedings.
Some of those outlets, including the South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Associated Press, The New York Times and the publisher of the Miami Herald, argued that the media should have a First Amendment right of access to the pictures and video because they are being used by the state in arguing for the execution of confessed gunman Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at the Parkland high school on Feb. 14, 2018.
The judge agreed to a framework pitched by media lawyer Dana McElroy, of Thomas & LoCicero, that would allow representatives of the media to review the evidence when court is in recess. To avoid leaks, those representatives will not be permitted to bring cellphones, cameras or recording equipment with them. The pool reporters will relay descriptions of the evidence to their colleagues.
According to a defense motion filed Wednesday, prosecutors have 450 pictures and videos they plan to introduce. Scherer heard arguments Thursday afternoon from defense lawyers who want to limit just how much prosecutors are allowed to show.
Prosecutors say the evidence is required to establish aggravating factors that justify a death penalty.
Defense lawyers say Cruz rendered much of the evidence unnecessary by pleading guilty last October to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, and that the graphic nature of the pictures will overwhelm the jury and taint its verdict.
The jury is being tasked only with deciding whether Cruz deserves a sentence of life or one of death.
The judge will have to balance the need to present evidence against Cruz’s right to a fair trial in front of an impartial jury. She said she will do that on a case-by-case basis, saying it was premature Thursday to rule on all the photos when she hasn’t seen them and doesn’t know their context.
Also on Thursday, on the other side of the courthouse, the only other person charged with a crime in connection with the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas learned when he will be facing a jury.
Former Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson, the school resource officer accused of taking cover instead of taking action while Cruz was taking lives, is facing multiple charges of child neglect. He was set to go on trial in September, but that was before numerous delays pushed the end of the Cruz case deeper into the fall.
Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein agreed to postpone Peterson’s trial to Feb. 27 to avoid conflicts for witnesses who might have to appear in both cases and for family members who would otherwise be forced to choose which trial to attend.
“The only way for them to hear the truth about what happened that day is for them to be present at this trial,” said defense lawyer Mark Eiglarsh. “My client and I want that.”
Eiglarsh has argued that Peterson wasn’t sure whether the gunshots he heard were coming from inside the building where 17 people died or outside. Eiglarsh also said Peterson is being treated as a scapegoat but was not the only law enforcement officer to take cover at Stoneman Douglas.
“I was looking up and looking around,” Peterson told the Sun Sentinel last October. “It didn’t even dawn on me that it (the gunfire) was coming from inside the 1200 building. I thought it was outside.”
Had he run into the building only to find the shooter was outside, that could also have been seen as taking cover, he and his lawyer argued.
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