DeSantis Supports Prosecutors ‘Using Legal Processes Available’ Following Life in Prison Jury Recommendation
CAPE CORAL (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis says he supports prosecutors using the legal processes available following the Parkland school shooter trial’s jury recommendation on Thursday.
It was previously reported that DeSantis is disappointed in the jury’s recommendation to sentence 24-year-old Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz to life in prison, who plead guilty to killing 17 people in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
“I know that the prosecutors are pursuing some things with the jury and I think that they should do that,” DeSantis said in a press conference Friday morning.
CBS News reports prosecutors have filed a motion to ask Judge Elizabeth Scherer to compel law enforcement officers to interview a juror who said they felt threatened by another juror during deliberations to decide the fate of the shooter.
The motion does not identify the juror in question. A hearing is set for 1:30 pm on Friday in the Broward County court.
Although it is unclear if DeSantis was referring to this specific motion, he did say the following:
“I think this is something that – did you have jurors that were just never gonna do this [recommend the death sentence] no matter what? That’s not the way this system is supposed to work. what was going on.. there may have been something that went on so i think whatever legal process they have and legal tools they have available, I think they should use it – because I do think it was a miscarriage of justice.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis
“The jurors came back apparently it was 11 to 1 – with 1 holdout – refusing to authorize the ultimate punishment and that means that this killer’s going to end up getting a same sentence of people who’ve committed bad acts – but acts that did not rise to this level,” he previously said.
In the state of Florida, the death sentence requires a unanimous vote on at least one count. At least one juror reportedly believed “mitigating” factors, like his mental state, outweighed “aggravating” factors, like the cruelty of the shooting.
DeSantis also reiterated his disappointment in the legal system.
“We need to do some reforms to be better serving victims of crimes and the families of victims of crimes and not always bend over backwards to try to do everything we need to for the perpetrators of crimes,” he said.
The lone juror who voted against the death penalty wrote a letter to the judge confirming there were rumors she decided to vote for life in prison before the trial began, but said she was unbiased and the rumors were false, as previously reported:
