The defense team of the Parkland killer has been under fire, particularly by members of the public. NBC 6’s Tony Pipitone reports
The Florida Bar is investigating one of the assistant public defenders for the Parkland school shooter following his sentencing trial.
A spokesperson for the Florida Bar confirmed Thursday that Broward assistant public defender Tamara Curtis was part of an investigation.
Watch NBC6 free wherever you are
>
No other details on the investigation were released.
The news comes a day after the gunman was sentenced to life in prison without parole in the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 students and staffers dead and 17 others injured.
Get local news you need to know to start your day with NBC 6's News Headlines newsletter.
>
PARKLAND TRIAL
The sentencing was handed down after two days of statements by family members of the victims who vented their anger at the killer as well as his defense team.
Some of the family members accused the public defenders of misleading the jurors who voted for a life sentence into believing the gunman's birth mother's excessive drinking had left him brain damaged and unable to control himself. Some hoped that their consciences would haunt them forever and would experience the pain they have felt, with at least one parent mentioning the attorneys' children.
"The legal system should protect and impart justice, justice, justice,” Patricia Oliver said Tuesday, leaning over the lectern toward the defense attorneys and accusing them of "shameful, despicable behavior." The gunman wounded her 17-year-old son Joaquin in the leg and then tracked him into a bathroom alcove, where he fatally shot her son in the head.
Lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill eventually asked Judge Elizabeth Scherer to stop the families from attacking her and her colleagues directly, saying they had worked within the parameters of the gunman's constitutional rights in defending him.
"I did my job, and every member of this team did our job, and we should not personally be attacked for that, nor should our children," McNeill said.
Prosecutor Carolyn McCann told Scherer that the victims have the right under state law and the Constitution to “express themselves and be heard.”
When McNeill tried to respond to McCann, telling the judge she knew the parents were violating court decorum, Scherer stopped her. The two had a testy and sometimes hostile relationship since pretrial hearings.
"Stop suggesting that I know that something is improper," Scherer said, saying she had heard enough. She took no action against the families.
The argument resumed after lunch, with Scherer yelling at and ejecting one of McNeill's assistants. The judge said she didn’t recall children being mentioned, but the assistant asserted she would have recalled the statements if the parents had mentioned Scherer's own children.
Broward public defender Gordon Weekes also asked Scherer to limit victim impact statements.
"No one in the courtroom has had to endure what we had to endure," Weekes said.
Those comments further angered the family members, with Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter, Jaime, in the shooting, calling for Weekes to resign.
NBC 6 has learned that security has been tightened around the defense team, not because of issues involving family members but because of concerns over how some in the public who could be misinformed might direct their anger at the attorneys.
Meanwhile, in a letter Thursday, the president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers criticized Scherer's handling of the case.
"Judge Scherer’s hostile and demeaning treatment of defense counsel, one of whom is the elected Public Defender, exposed seemingly deep disdain for the role defense lawyers play in the criminal justice system. We also take the position that Judge Sherer’s hostility reveals a temperament ill-suited to the criminal bench. Judge Scherer’s comments and actions were not only offensive but were also ultimately detrimental to the integrity of the judiciary and the judicial system," Ernest Chang wrote in the letter to 17th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Jack Tuter. "We urge you to address this with Judge Scherer and take all appropriate steps to ensure she is not in a position to prejudice any other criminal cases."
