Jury selection to begin from scratch in Parkland school shooter sentencing trial

The jury selected to serve for the sentencing trial of the Parkland school shooter in Florida will be dismissed and the process of selecting a jury will begin all over again due to an error by the judge.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer announced on Monday she would have to start the jury selection process over again after the prosecution filed a motion to dismiss them because the judge had failed to further question them after 11 of them answered they would not follow the law when serving on the jury.

In questioning the fifth group of potential jurors, Scherer asked if any of them would not follow the law if selected to serve. About eleven of them raised their hands. The judge then released them without further questioning. The prosecution says the judge should have kept the potential jurors there and asked them more about their answer.

The judge admitted her mistake and declared the jury selection process would begin again, in spite of strong objections by the defense. According to one of Cruz’s attorneys, David Weinstein, the defense acknowledges the prosecution’s argument and does not disagree, but the defense will argue that by beginning the jury selection over, Cruz would be subjected to double jeopardy and could not, by law, be given a death sentence.

Weinstein says the prosecution is correct to point out the judge’s error, as all defendants and their kin “have a right to a fair trial, but that right can’t trump the rights of a criminal defendant.”

In order for Cruz to receive the death penalty instead of life in prison without parole, the jurors would have to unanimously agree. If even one disagrees, Cruz will be given life without parole. Starting the process again makes two weeks of jury selection work by both prosecution and defense attorneys.