Florida school shooter’s jury selection to start over

Jury choice in the trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz need to start over after the judge declared her own error needs itBy TERRY SPENCER Associated PressApril 25, 2022, 3:27 PM – 5 min readShare to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.– The judge supervising jury choice for a male who murdered 17 individuals at a Florida high school stated that the procedure will start over Monday, yielding that she must have questioned 11 potential jurors who stated they would not follow the law before she dismissed them.In approving the motion filed by Nikolas Cruzs district attorneys over the strong objection of his lawyers, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer nullified two weeks of work by prosecution and defense lawyers, requiring them to begin the entire process once again Monday. More than 1,200 prospects had actually been screened.Prosecutor Carolyn McCann made her argument after miscommunication caused 11 jurors who were poorly dismissed by Scherer two weeks ago not to be informed to return to court Monday as had actually been planned for additional questioning.Scherer said they would be brought in next week, however McCann argued that more time would be wasted if it turned out the potential jurors had to be struck anyhow. She stated Scherer should wait till next week to see if the 11 jurors returned and might be questioned. The possibility of a mistrial had actually been hanging over jury choice considering that Scherer made the error on April 5 during questioning of a group of 60 possible jurors, the fifth of 21 panels that have appeared prior to the judge, prosecutors and the defense.With the previous four groups and every group given that, Scherer just asked prospective jurors if they knew Cruz or any of the attorneys and if they had any personal or work challenges that would make it difficult for them to serve from June through September.

Jury choice in the trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz should begin over after the judge declared her own mistake requires itBy TERRY SPENCER Associated PressApril 25, 2022, 3:27 PM – 5 minutes readShare to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.– The judge overseeing jury choice for a man who killed 17 individuals at a Florida high school stated that the process will start over Monday, conceding that she should have questioned 11 potential jurors who stated they would not follow the law before she dismissed them.In giving the movement submitted by Nikolas Cruzs prosecutors over the strong objection of his attorneys, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer nullified 2 weeks of work by prosecution and defense lawyers, requiring them to start the entire procedure anew Monday. More than 1,200 prospects had been screened.Prosecutor Carolyn McCann made her argument after miscommunication caused 11 jurors who were poorly dismissed by Scherer 2 weeks ago not to be told to return to court Monday as had been planned for further questioning.Scherer stated they would be brought in next week, however McCann argued that more time would be wasted if it turned out the potential jurors had to be struck anyhow. The possibility of a mistrial had actually been hanging over jury choice considering that Scherer made the error on April 5 during questioning of a group of 60 possible jurors, the fifth of 21 panels that have appeared before the judge, district attorneys and the defense.With the previous four groups and every group given that, Scherer just asked potential jurors if they knew Cruz or any of the lawyers and if they had any individual or work challenges that would make it difficult for them to serve from June through September.