The judge overseeing the Parkland school shooting trial will allow an investigation after one of the jurors reported that she felt threatened by a fellow juror.
Broward prosecutors filed a motion Thursday night that said that after gunman Nikolas Cruz was given a life sentence Thursday, "Juror X" called the prosecutor's office and reported that "during deliberations, she received what she perceived to be a threat from a fellow juror while in the jury room."
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The state said it filed a notice to the court and requested an interview "to investigate this serious allegation because a crime may have been committed."
Because this is a potential crime, the prosecution also requested that law enforcement conduct the interview, rather than the court or other parties, the motion said.
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PARKLAND TRIAL
At a brief hearing Friday, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer heard from Broward assistant state attorney Carolyn McCann.
“This is a safety issue,” McCann said. “I repeat, we are not trying to set aside the verdict but the prosecutor cannot ignore a phone call that a threat had been made and that person is frightened."
Scherer seemed to agree.
“If [jurors] were doing things they were not supposed to be doing then we need to be made aware of it,” Scherer said. “Not that it’s going to change the outcome, but that shouldn’t happen and people shouldn’t be hesitant to serve on juries in the future if they hear that jurors are not required to exhibit appropriate behavior during deliberations.”
Scherer said the Broward Sheriff's Office has jurisdiction and is aware of the situation.
“I’m not going to order them to investigate it but I think that, certainly, if that’s a matter they feel is appropriate for a criminal investigation then that’s what they should do,” Scherer said.
Broward Sheriff's Office officials announced later Friday that they've received the information and will investigate.
On Thursday, the jury spared the life of Cruz in the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead and 17 others injured.
Under Florida law, a death sentence requires a unanimous vote on at least one count. The jury found there were aggravating factors to warrant the death penalty for each victim, but one or more jurors also found mitigating factors.
In the end, the seven men and five women could not agree that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating ones, so the gunman will get life without parole.
A 39-year-old man who served on the jury told NBC 6 that one fellow juror was adamant about giving the killer life from the start of deliberations, and said there were several who were undecided at first.
Another juror said she did her best to persuade the adamant juror, saying she even offered to put photos of the victims on the wall to reinforce the horrific nature of what the gunman did.
The adamant juror sent a short handwritten note Thursday to Judge Elizabeth Scherer, defending her vote for a life sentence, and denying that she intended to vote that way before the trial began.
"This allegation is untrue and I maintained my oath to the court that I would be fair and unbiased," the letter stated. "The deliberations were very tense and some jurors became extremely unhappy once I mentioned that I would vote for life."
The state's motion addressed this juror's letter, saying that once they became aware of it, the "defense counsel filed a notice of intention to interview other jurors, claiming that the letter reflected that this juror and possibly other jurors were concerned about possible repercussions to themselves."
This is a developing story. Check back with NBC 6 for updates.
