FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A fired Florida sheriff’s deputy charged with failing to confront the gunman who murdered 17 at a Parkland highschool 5 years in the past mentioned Monday that he’s “looking forward” to his trial, which is scheduled to begin subsequent week.
Former Broward County sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson instructed reporters after a court docket listening to that the general public must know he did all the pieces he may as Nikolas Cruz murdered 14 college students and three employees members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.
Peterson, the deputy then assigned to the varsity, says he didn’t cost into the three-story classroom constructing through the six-minute bloodbath as a result of he thought the handfuls of photographs fired have been coming from outdoors. He was armed with a handgun on the time.
Some victims’ dad and mom have labeled Peterson “the coward of Broward.” Free on bail, he now lives in North Carolina and will face practically a century in jail if convicted.
“I want the truth to come out and if it is going to be through a trial, so be it. I’m eager,” Peterson mentioned. “Not only the people in Florida, the country, most importantly the families, they need to know the truth about what happened, because unfortunately it has never been told.”
Peterson, 60, is charged with seven counts of kid neglect and three counts of culpable negligence for the ten individuals Cruz shot on the third ground, six of them fatally, after Peterson arrived on the constructing. The former deputy isn’t charged in reference to the 11 killed and 13 wounded on the primary ground earlier than he received there.
Prosecutors say Peterson’s actions present he knew the photographs have been coming from inside and that he may have prevented a few of the shootings if he had confronted Cruz, who was armed with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.
Peterson’s legal professional, Mark Eiglarsh, mentioned there are 22 protection witnesses who will testify that additionally they thought the photographs have been coming from someplace apart from contained in the classroom constructing.
“He’s not the only one who heard those shots and believe they were coming from a different location,” Eiglarsh mentioned.
Peterson retired shortly after the taking pictures, was fired retroactively and charged a yr later.
Jury choice is scheduled to begin May 31 with opening statements in early June. The trial may final till August.
During Monday’s listening to, Circuit Judge Martin Fein rejected Eiglarsh’s request to delay the trial till August. The legal professional mentioned a few of his witnesses have holidays and different conflicts and say they received’t seem. Fein mentioned if the witnesses are subpoenaed, they haven’t any selection.
The decide additionally expressed skepticism of the prosecution’s request to have jurors tour the classroom constructing’s blood-stained halls, one thing Cruz’s jury did throughout his penalty trial final yr. The constructing has been maintained and sealed since days after the taking pictures and is anticipated to be torn down after Peterson’s trial.
Prosecutor Steven Klinger instructed the decide that the jurors have to see the distances contained in the constructing. But Fein appeared to agree with Eiglarsh, who says there’s enough video and photograph proof to exhibit the distances and that having jurors tour the constructing would solely inflame their feelings. Fein mentioned he would difficulty his ruling later.
It is probably going, nevertheless, that the jury can be be taken to the varsity to see the surface space the place Peterson stood throughout many of the assault.
To achieve a conviction, prosecutors should persuade jurors that Peterson knew the gunman was firing contained in the constructing and that his actions and inaction uncovered extra victims to hurt.
Security movies present that 36 seconds after the assault started, Peterson left his workplace about 100 yards (92 meters) from the constructing and jumped right into a cart with two unarmed civilian safety guards, in line with a state report. They arrived on the crime scene a minute later.
Peterson received out of the cart close to the classroom constructing’s jap first-floor doorway to the first-floor hallway whereas the gunman was on the reverse finish, firing quite a few photographs.
Peterson, his handgun drawn, didn’t open the door. Instead, he took cowl outdoors subsequent to a neighboring constructing.
“It was so loud and so close. I thought it was probably outside,” Peterson instructed investigators two days after the taking pictures.
He mentioned he heard “two, three” photographs, although safety guards instructed investigators they heard many extra, clearly coming from contained in the constructing.
Inside, Cruz climbed to the constructing’s higher flooring, firing roughly 75 extra photographs over practically 4 minutes.
Cruz pleaded responsible to the murders in 2021, however the jury in his penalty trial couldn’t unanimously agree that he deserved a demise sentence. The 24-year-old former Stoneman Douglas pupil was sentenced as an alternative to life in jail.
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com