Attorneys for the Florida school gunman Nikolas Cruz suddenly and surprisingly rested on Wednesday after calling only a fraction of their expected witnesses, leading to a shouting match after the judge accused them of lacking professionalism.
Attorneys for Cruz told the judge and prosecutors they would be calling 80 witnesses but rested after calling about 25.
There were 11 days of defense testimony, the last two spotlighting descriptions of how Cruz’s birth mother’s heavy use of alcohol during pregnancy might have affected his brain and led to his murder of 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland four years ago.
The sudden announcement by Cruz’s lead attorney, Melisa McNeill, led to a heated exchange with the judge, Elizabeth Scherer, who called the decision without warning to her or the prosecution “the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case”.
The 12-member jury and 10 alternates were lining up outside the courtroom. The sudden announcement meant prosecutors were not ready to start their rebuttal. The lead prosecutor, Mike Satz, threw his hands up when Scherer asked if he could begin and, with a nervous laugh, said “No.”
“We’re waiting for 40 more [defense] witnesses,” Satz said.
Scherer then accused Cruz’s attorneys of being inconsiderate to all involved, especially the jurors.
“To have 22 people march into court and be waiting as if it is some kind of game. I have never experienced such a level of unprofessionalism in my career,” Scherer said, raising her voice.
McNeill countered angrily: “You are insulting me on the record in front of my client.”
Scherer told her to stop. Scherer then laid into McNeill, with whom she has had a testy relationship since pre-trial hearings began more than three years ago.
“You’ve been insulting me the entire trial,” Scherer barked. “Arguing with me, storming out, coming late intentionally if you don’t like my rulings. So, quite frankly, this has been long overdue. So please be seated.”
Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty last October to murdering 14 students and three staff members on 14 February 2018. His trial is to determine whether he is sentenced to death or life without parole. For a death sentence, the jury must be unanimous.
After his attorneys rested, Cruz told Scherer he agreed with the decision.
“I think we are good,” he said.
When jurors were told, several stared at the defense table, appearing stunned.
Cruz’s attorneys have tried to show how his birth mother’s alcohol abuse put him on a lifelong path of erratic, bizarre and often violent behavior. They also tried to show that his adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, was overwhelmed after her husband died when Cruz was five.
They called witnesses who knew his birth mother, Brenda Woodard, a Fort Lauderdale sex worker. They testified she drank fortified wine and malt liquor and abused cocaine during her pregnancy.
They called Cruz’s psychiatrists and psychologists and teachers from Cruz’s preschool, elementary and middle school, who testified he was a slow-developing child who hurt others, made threats and had few friends.
The defense concluded by calling Dr Kenneth Jones, a leading fetal alcohol expert, who said he had never seen a birth mother who had more documented drinking than Woodard. He believes Cruz’s doctors did not properly diagnose him with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Cruz’s attorneys had been expected to call his younger half-brother, Zachary, a central figure in their case who witnesses accused of bullying his smaller, weaker sibling. They also presented no witnesses from a school for students with behavioral problems Cruz attended and no witnesses to discuss his days at Stoneman Douglas, where he was frequently searched for weapons.
Robert Jarvis, a professor at Nova Southeastern University’s law school near Fort Lauderdale, said the defense decision was hard to fathom.
“Perhaps the defense felt it had made its case. Perhaps the defense felt it was losing the jury and further witnesses would only alienate the jury. Perhaps the defense felt that the witnesses to be called would give the prosecution too much leeway to explore matters during cross-examination that the defense did not want explored.”
Still, he said Scherer’s dressing-down of McNeill was uncalled for. Jarvis has been an outspoken critic of Scherer’s selection to oversee such a complicated case, as she had never tried a first-degree murder trial before.
“It was the defense’s right to rest when it thought the right moment was reached. Indeed, I have never heard of a judge effectively demanding that a party call all its proposed witnesses,” Jarvis said. “This is just another example of Judge Scherer not being the right judge.”
The prosecution focused on how Cruz stalked a three-story building for seven minutes with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. Satz played security videos of the shooting and showed the gun. Teachers and students testified about watching others die.
Satz showed autopsy and crime scene photos and took jurors to the building, which remains blood-stained and bullet-pocked. Parents and spouses gave statements.
Prosecutors said they would need more than a week to prepare their rebuttal. The trial is now tentatively scheduled to resume on 27 September and conclude in the week of 10 October.
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