Florida court reprimands judge over school shooting trial actions

Florida's top court has publicly reprimanded the judge who presided over the trial of Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018, for appearing partial to the prosecution.

Monday's decision by the Florida Supreme Court came after the 15-member Judicial Qualifications Commission concluded in June that Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer violated judicial conduct rules during last year's trial.

That trial ended with a jury in October sparing Cruz from the death penalty and him receiving a life sentence for using a semi-automatic rifle to kill 14 students and three staff members at Parkland when he was 19 years old.

The commission found Scherer "allowed her emotions to overcome her judgment" by unduly chastising defence counsel, wrongly accusing one of Cruz's lawyers of trying to threaten her children and embracing victims and prosecutors after sentencing.

The panel said regardless of the emotional and contentious nature of the trial, judges must “ensure due process, order and decorum, and act always with dignity and respect to promote the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary."

Scherer, a former prosecutor appointed the bench in 2012, resigned at the end of June. Her lawyer did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Her decision to hug members of the prosecution and the victims’ families in the courtroom after sentencing Cruz in November prompted the Florida Supreme Court to remove her from another death penalty case involving a different defendant, Randy Tundidor, in April.

Scherer admitted her treatment of defence lawyers was at times not patient or dignified, though she said she offered to embrace defence counsel too, according to court records.