The man who admits gunning down 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year wants a new prosecutor, saying the state attorney is willfully "blind to any evidence that contradicts his own conclusion that (the defendant) is evil."
The defense says State Attorney Michael Satz told them in February he would not waive the death penalty; he would consider no evidence that would mitigate against a death sentence; and that the killer is "evil – worse than Ted Bundy," referring to a now-executed serial killer.
Satz's "determination that (the killer) is evil does not appear to be a reasoned decision but instead a decision based on caprice and emotion," constituting "substantial misconduct," defense attorneys argue in their motion to disqualify.
But, in response, the state calls the move "legally meritless," saying Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer is being asked to do what only a governor can do – reassign a prosecution based on some perceived appearance of impropriety.
The killer, Nikolas Cruz, is essentially arguing "he is entitled to a prosecutor more receptive to his offer of entering a guilty plea in exchange for a sentence of life imprisonment," the state wrote in its response.
The prosecution notes a jury will decide if execution is the proper punishment for the February 2018 massacre, plans for which the killer laid out in detail on cellphone video he recorded three days prior to the killings.
"Simply because the state attorney made an individualized determination to seek the death penalty and that a jury should decide what mitigation justifies something less than death – particularly when faced with such horrific facts and powerful aggravating circumstances – it is neither error nor grounds to disqualify him," the state countered.
Judge Scherer said Monday she would hear argument and, perhaps, witness testimony on the matter during a hearing Friday morning.
