Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz defence team denied mistrial over swastika evidence

Attorney argues they were being forced to introduce prejudicial evidence against client

Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz’s defence team asked for a mistrial on Thursday morning in the penalty phase of his trial for the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The request was put to Judge Elizabeth Scherer after she had ruled that the introduction into evidence of Cruz’s drawings that included swastikas was allowable.

Prior to officially filing for a mistrial, the defence urged the judge to reconsider her ruling.

The defence case for a mistrial was that they were being forced to introduce inflammatory, prejudicial evidence against their client.

Judge Scherer called the request an “anticipatory mistrial” and “disingenuous” before denying the motion.

Before Judge Scherer ruled, members of the defence and prosecution teams began to squabble and she was forced to instruct them not to talk to each other.

“It’s unprofessional,” she said, and described the situation as “getting out of hand”.

“If you want to speak, you speak through the court.”

Last October, Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder over the Valentine’s Day killings.

Jurors will now decide whether to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole or to death.

Prosecutors spent three weeks detailing how Cruz murdered 17 students and staff members and wounded 17 more, with jurors hearing from grieving family members and touring the school site.

Now, Cruz’s defence is presenting its case, seeking to show that Cruz’s actions that day were the culmination of his life up to that point – from him being exposed to drugs and alcohol in the womb through his birth mother, to behavioural and psychological issues from an early age, and the deaths of both of his adoptive parents.