FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz was back in court Wednesday afternoon for a routine hearing in a case where little so far has been routine.
The hearing focused on two defense motions _ one seeking to find prosecutors, law enforcement or both in contempt for disclosing privileged information to a statewide commission, and the other to reclassify witnesses whose value to the case was understated by the State Attorney's Office.
Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, meanwhile, ordered both sides to start the formal process of interviewing witnesses, known as depositions, as soon as possible. The judge said she wanted 25 depositions conducted or at least scheduled by Nov. 15, with another 25 completed by the end of the year.
Cruz, who turned 20 on Monday, faces the death penalty if convicted of 17 counts of first-degree murder. He is also charged with 17 counts of attempted murder.
Defense lawyers concede Cruz committed the mass murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. Their strategy appears to be aimed at protecting his constitutional rights as a defendant and avoiding execution, either by convincing the state to accept a guilty plea or, eventually, convincing at least one juror to spare Cruz's life.
Judge blasts Sun Sentinel for publishing confidential information in Parkland school shooting case
Scherer did not rule on whether to hold a hearing on the contempt motion.
Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill said someone released Cruz's private medical records to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, which is investigating the massacre.
Such a release should have required a court order, McNeill said. She said she wanted the judge to approve any release of information in the future. Scherer set no such requirement.
The bulk of Wednesday's hearing focused on an argument about witnesses who were, according to the defense, wrongly listed as low-priority.
So-called "C-list" witnesses do not have to be deposed because prosecutors don't intend to call them and their input is considered ancillary.
There are 463 such witnesses, said Assistant State Attorney Jeff Marcus.
Defense lawyer David Frankel told Scherer that he wants six of those witnesses classified as high-priority, or "A-list," because he feels their testimony is significant.
"These are witnesses who went into the building, were at the scene," said David Frankel, a special assistant public defender assigned to the case to represent Cruz. "This is a death penalty case, with the highest degree of diligence that needs to be done."
Scherer declined to reclassify any of those witnesses, leaving the door open for defense lawyers to try to depose them at a later date if new information comes to light.
Scherer did not address a lingering issue over whether the South Florida Sun Sentinel and two of its reporters should be held in contempt for publishing the complete details of a report that was accidentally made available, unredacted, by the Broward school district over the summer.
The report was based on Cruz's record as a public school student, and it disclosed, among other things, that school officials didn't properly advise Cruz of his legal options when he was faced with removal from Stoneman Douglas his junior year, leading him to give up special education services.
By court order, the district was supposed to black out nearly two-thirds of the report because it disclosed information that Cruz was entitled to keep private under federal and state law. But the method used to post the report on the district's website made it possible for anyone to read the blacked-out portions by copying and pasting them into another file.
