FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A judge says a former student accused of murdering 17 people at a Florida high school cannot be called “animal” or “that thing” during his upcoming trial.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer ruled Friday that it's impossible to create a complete list of words prosecutors and witnesses won't be allowed to use to describe Nikolas Cruz.
She sided with his lawyers in ruling out derogatory terms when he's tried for the 2018 killings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland. But she rejected a defense request that Cruz not be called “school shooter,” “killer” or “murderer.”
Cruz, 22, faces the death penalty if convicted in the Valentine's Day 2018 massacre. His lawyers have said he would plead guilty in exchange for a life prison sentence, but prosecutors are insisting that his fate be decided by a jury trial.