FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Lawyers for Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz sought Tuesday to pry loose evidence for his defense from a state commission that investigated last year’s Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The commission did dozens of interviews and collected numerous pieces of evidence before releasing its 446-page report earlier this month. Cruz attorney Melisa McNeill said at a hearing Tuesday the defense needs access to that material for his defense.
“We don’t know what they have. We just want to know what they have,” McNeill told Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer.
Jason Jones, who represents the chairman of the 15-member Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, said most of the key witness statements and transcripts had already been turned over to Broward County prosecutors. Jones said he’d have a list of other evidence to Cruz’s defense by Friday.
“We have turned over all recorded and or transcribed statements,” Jones said. “All those have been turned over to the state as we promised.”
Assistant State Attorney Steven Klinger said prosecutors were still going through about 180 witness statements collected by the commission but would soon turn them over to Cruz’s lawyers. Judge Scherer set a Jan. 29 deadline for that to happen.
