FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The defense in the Parkland mass shooting trial rested its case Wednesday, shocking the judge and prosecutors who were unprepared for the start of the next and final phase of testimony.
“We’re not playing chess,” the judge said when the defense announced its intention. “This is the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case. Judge Elizabeth Scherer speaks in court as the defense asks for a continuance due to an ill attorney during jury selection in the penalty phase of the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, June 6, 2022.
Defense testimony ended Tuesday with experts discussing the finer points of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the ailment defense lawyers say is most responsible for the defendant’s downward spiral. The defense case, as outlined by McNeill in her Aug. 22 opening statement, walked a tightrope, asking the jury to show mercy to their client because of his poor mental health without using that issue to excuse what he did at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz is shown at the defense table during the penalty phase of Cruz's trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. Cruz pleaded guilty to murdering 17 students and staff members in 2018 at Parkland's high school. The trial is only to determine if the 23-year-old is sentenced to death or life without parole.
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