The former judge who presided over the trial of the 2018 Parkland high school mass murderer sharply criticized his public defenders during a presentation to Miami law students Thursday, saying they acted unprofessionally and crossed several lines while representing him.
Former Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer told the Florida International University law students that the attorneys "lost their minds" as they defended Nikolas Cruz during his 2022 trial for the killing of 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.
She said she had been friendly with Cruz's lead attorney, assistant public defender Melisa McNeill, and members of her team before the case, but during four years of pretrial motions, three months of jury selection and the three-month trial "they lost their perspective." She and McNeill frequently clashed both before and at trial.
Scherer said members of the defense talked, passed notes, used their computer printer and brushed their hair while prosecution witnesses were testifying.
She did not mention another incident in which one attorney, during a recess and out of the presence of the jury, raised her middle finger at a robotic camera that was broadcasting the trial live. It was focused on the defense table, and Cruz's team felt that infringed on his attorney-client privilege.
