Nikolas Cruz mass shooting trial delayed, may start in summer 2020

The death-penalty trial for Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be pushed back until at least the summer of 2020.

Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer on Thursday agreed with a defense request to delay the high-profile trial, which has originally been set to start on Jan. 27. She didn’t set a new date, but warned lawyers to be ready within months.

“This case is going to be tried this summer, at some point,” Scherer said.

Cruz is facing the death penalty for murdering 17 students and staffers during the massacre at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in February 2018.

Cruz, now 20, was arrested blocks away from the school and has been jailed ever since. The shooting led to a wave of gun control activism, and even a Florida law tightening restrictions on firearms.

In Florida, it’s normal for murder cases — death penalty or not — to drag on for years as defense lawyers interview witnesses in depositions, pore over evidence and haggle over legal issues with prosecutors.

Cruz’s case is more massive than most murder cases. There are hundreds of witnesses and thousands of pieces of evidence.

During a hearing on Thursday, Broward prosecutors said they were okay with a May trial date. The Broward Public Defender’s Office, however, insisted that it needed more time to prepare.

“We are doing everything we can to get this case to trial,” Broward Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill told the judge.

Scherer agreed, in part because the Florida Supreme Court is still weighing whether to consider a request by the Public Defender’s Office to keep secret the identity of mental-health experts who visit Cruz in jail.

A trial date could be set on March 23 when lawyers convene for another court hearing.