A Parkland juror said she felt threatened by another juror. Read the document
Prosecutors in the Parkland trial are asking a Broward judge to let police interview a juror who said she felt threatened by another member of the 12-member panel during deliberations.
“The State requests an interview be granted to investigate this serious allegation because a crime may have been committed,” prosecutors said in the motion, which was filed in Broward County Circuit Court.
The request came after the jury on Thursday rejected the death penalty and instead recommended to sentence Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Cruz pleaded guilty last year to killing 17 people in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Prosecutors, in the court document, said a juror called the Office of the State Attorney at 2:14 p.m. Thursday and told a staff member she “received what she perceived to be a threat from a fellow juror while in the jury room” during deliberations. The document states that no one called the juror back. The juror’s name is not disclosed in the three-page filing and is referred to as Juror X.
“This Court has a duty to investigate this allegation,” the document reads. “Since this is a potential crime, the State requests that law enforcement conduct the interview of Juror X rather than the Court or the parties.”
Prosecutors are set to make their case to Broward Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Scherer in a hearing at 1:30 p.m. Friday. The judge also received a letter Thursday from one of the jurors who voted for life. In that letter, the juror denied accusations from other members in the jury that she had made her decision ahead of the trial and said she had “maintained my oath to the court that I would be fair and unbiased.”
This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 12:38 PM.
