FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Confusion reigned as jury selection in the death penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz concluded its second week with no immediate end in sight. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer united prosecutors and defense attorneys in protest over her plans for concluding the lengthy process that is picking the panel. The jurors will decide if Cruz is executed for murdering 17 at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018. That confusion and other issues means opening statements in Cruz’s penalty trial likely will move from May 31 to mid- or late-June. The trial has already been delayed at least two years by the pandemic and other legal issues.
Amy Beth Bennett/AP
Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz speaks with Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill upon entering the courtroom for jury pre-selection in the penalty phase of the trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)
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