An investigation is underway right into allegations that one juror threatened an additional in the stressful verdict of deliberations that led to Park school shooter Nikolas Cruz being spared the execution.
Cruz had begged guilty to 17 counts of murder as well as 17 matters of tried murder, which left the court billed with determining whether he should get the capital punishment. Under Florida legislation, the jury would certainly have to be unanimous in favor of implementation for the execution to be invoked.
On Thursday, one juror called the Office of the State Lawyer as well as claimed she “received what she perceived to be a hazard from a fellow juror while in the jury area,” according to a movement filed with the court, according to WPLG-TV.
The movement said prosecutors had obtained a phone message pertaining to the alleged incident however did not react to the phone call. Instead, they submitted a Notification to the Court, requesting for the Broward Constable’s Workplace to investigate, since “a criminal activity may have been devoted.”
“We are not seeking to allot the decision,” Broward Region Assistant State Lawyer Carolyn McCann stated, according to WPTV-TV. “This motion was applied for security factors. We do not have a hidden agenda, so I intend to put every person’s worries apart. … Truthfully, we don’t intend to touch this with a 10-foot pole.”
Trending:
The juror who claimed she was intimidated is not the same person as the one that wrote a letter to the judge concerning the conduct of an additional juror, according to WPLG.
That letter, from juror 12, said, “I want to notify you that [juror number eight] heard jurors who elected the death sentence mentioning that I had already made up my mind on voting for life prior to the trial began.”
“This claims is not true and also I kept my oath to the court that I would be reasonable as well as unbiased. The considerations were very tense and also some jurors came to be incredibly unhappy once I discussed that I would elect life,” the letter stated
Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer additionally stated a male juror had actually wished to speak with her Thursday. She said she did not know what he wanted to speak to her about, due to the fact that she felt it was improper to talk …
