FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — 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 “taking a look ahead” to his trial, which is scheduled to start out subsequent week.
Former Broward County sheriff’s deputy Scot Peterson informed journalists after a courtroom listening to that the general public wishes to understand he did the whole lot he may just as Nikolas Cruz murdered 14 scholars and 3 personnel individuals at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Prime Faculty on Feb. 14, 2018.
Peterson, the deputy then assigned to the college, says he didn’t rate into the three-story lecture room construction throughout the six-minute bloodbath as a result of he idea the handfuls of photographs fired have been coming from outdoor. He used to be armed with a handgun on the time.
Some sufferers’ oldsters have categorised Peterson “the coward of Broward.” Unfastened on bail, he now lives in North Carolina and may just face just about a century in jail if convicted.
“I would like the reality to come back out and if it’ll be via an ordeal, so be it. I’m keen,” Peterson mentioned. “No longer most effective the folk in Florida, the rustic, most significantly the households, they want to know the reality about what came about, as a result of sadly it hasn’t ever been informed.”
Peterson, 60, is charged with seven counts of kid overlook and 3 counts of culpable negligence for the ten other people Cruz shot at the 3rd surface, six of them fatally, after Peterson arrived on the construction. The previous deputy isn’t charged in reference to the 11 killed and 13 wounded at the first surface ahead of he were given there.
Prosecutors say Peterson’s movements display he knew the photographs have been coming from within and that he will have averted one of the most shootings if he had faced Cruz, who used to be armed with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.
Peterson’s legal professional, Mark Eiglarsh, mentioned there are 22 protection witnesses who will testify that in addition they idea the photographs have been coming from someplace rather than within the study room construction.
“He’s no longer the one one that heard the ones photographs and consider they have been coming from a unique location,” Eiglarsh mentioned.
Peterson retired in a while after the capturing, used to be fired retroactively and charged a yr later.
Jury variety is scheduled to start out Would possibly 31 with opening statements in early June. The trial may just final till August.
All the way through Monday’s listening to, Circuit Pass judgement on Martin Fein rejected Eiglarsh’s request to prolong the trial till August. The legal professional mentioned a few of his witnesses have holidays and different conflicts and say they gained’t seem. Fein mentioned if the witnesses are subpoenaed, they have got no selection.
The pass judgement on additionally expressed skepticism of the prosecution’s request to have jurors excursion the study room construction’s blood-stained halls, one thing Cruz’s jury did throughout his penalty trial final yr. The construction has been maintained and sealed since days after the capturing and is anticipated to be torn down after Peterson’s trial.
Prosecutor Steven Klinger informed the pass judgement on that the jurors want to see the distances within the construction. However Fein looked as if it would consider Eiglarsh, who says there’s enough video and photograph proof to display the distances and that having jurors excursion the construction would most effective inflame their feelings. Fein mentioned he would factor his ruling later.
It’s most probably, on the other hand, that the jury might be be taken to the college to look the outdoor space the place Peterson stood throughout lots of the assault.
To realize a conviction, prosecutors should persuade jurors that Peterson knew the gunman used to be firing within the construction and that his movements and inactiveness uncovered extra sufferers to hurt.
Safety movies display that 36 seconds after the assault started, Peterson left his workplace about 100 yards (92 meters) from the construction and jumped right into a cart with two unarmed civilian safety guards, in step with a state file. They arrived on the crime scene a minute later.
Peterson were given out of the cart close to the study room construction’s japanese first-floor doorway to the first-floor hallway whilst the gunman used to be on the reverse finish, firing a lot of photographs.
Peterson, his handgun drawn, didn’t open the door. As an alternative, he took duvet outdoor subsequent to a neighboring construction.
“It used to be so loud and so shut. I assumed it used to be most probably outdoor,” Peterson informed investigators two days after the capturing.
He mentioned he heard “two, 3” photographs, even though safety guards informed investigators they heard many extra, obviously coming from within the construction.
Within, Cruz climbed to the construction’s higher flooring, firing roughly 75 extra photographs over just about 4 mins.
Cruz pleaded to blame to the murders in 2021, however the jury in his penalty trial may just no longer unanimously agree that he deserved a dying sentence. The 24-year-old former Stoneman Douglas scholar used to be sentenced as an alternative to lifestyles in jail.