Parkland, Florida, school shooter’s jury selection begins
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The first day of jury selection in the worst U.S. mass shooting to go to trial was slow, methodical and painstaking — a process that is expected to drag on for two months.
More than 120 of the first 160 prospective jurors who filed through Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer’s courtroom on Monday were dismissed. Most said it would be impossible for them to serve from June through September. That’s the amount of time it is expected to take for lawyers to present their cases in a trial that will end with a jury deciding whether Cruz gets life in prison or a sentence of death for murdering 17 at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.
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A few were dismissed because of health issues, because they don’t speak English fluently or because they had already paid for extensive vacations.
A woman was dismissed when she began crying upon seeing Cruz — not a new occurrence; that also happened to three women at an October hearing. Another prospective juror had a personal connection to Scherer, having taught her how to roller-skate as a child.
Yet another had met Cruz in 2016 on a group outing, while one woman was excused after saying she couldn’t serve on a jury because she needed to meet up with her “sugar daddy” every day.
“I’m seeing double. I’ve seen a lot of people,” Scherer said at the end of the day. “For Day 1, things went rather smoothly.”
Cruz, 23, sat between his attorneys, wearing a gray sweater and an anti-viral face mask, four sheriff’s deputies sitting nearby. He spoke only briefly at the start of the hearing, waiving his right to participate directly in the screening process. He pleaded guilty in October, meaning the jury will only decide if he gets death or life without parole.
Eight parents and other family members of some victims sat together in the courtroom. They declined to comment as they left.
Approximately 1,500 potential jurors, perhaps more, will be screened over the next few weeks as the pool is pared down to 12 plus eight alternates in a three-step process that will run through the end of May.
In the first screening, they are only being asked about hardships and conflicts. With the exception of the woman who met Cruz, they were not asked on Monday for their opinions about the death penalty or whether they could be fair. Those who said they could serve were given questionnaires to fill out in another room. The questionnaires will be given to lawyers in advance of the next round.
