Nearly 60 prospective jurors were picked from another 240 people screened on Monday for the life-or-death sentencing of convicted mass killer Nikolas Cruz.
This batch of jurors could be the latest group or the first of many more to be chosen for the sentencing phase.
The state started the day with a motion to strike about 250 jurors already chosen from more than 1,200 during the previous six days of jury selection, citing a procedural error.
Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer granted the state’s motion but also agreed to hear on Wednesday the defense team’s argument to keep those jurors.
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
Depending on which way the judge rules, there could be about 310 of 1,420 jurors chosen so far or just those chosen Monday. Jury selection continues Tuesday and Wednesday.
Eleven jurors abruptly left the courtroom April 5 after raising their hands and indicating they "could not follow the law" where the sentencing choice was life in prison or the death penalty.
Local
One of those prospective jurors was questioned later that day and dismissed. The other ten had left the courthouse by then.
They were to be summoned back to court April 25 to be questioned again but because of an unspecified miscommunication the judge said those ten would not come to court until next week.
That prompted the prosecution's motion to start fresh.
At one point during Monday’s procedure a jury candidate was asked what she did for a living and she answered that she ran a stable for about 25 horses.
Judge Scherer asked her, rhetorically, “Do you want to trade places?” It was greeted with rare laughter.
Two other women left the courtroom apparently upset on Monday. More than a dozen people have done so since the jury selection began April 4.
Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 charges of murder and 17 of attempted murder following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on February 14, 2018.
Click here for complete coverage on the Parkland school shooting jury selection
