NS.
Petersburg: A Judge Florida rejected Tuesday to close the pretrial audience to the media and the public in the case of men accused of killing 17 people in the mass shooting of the 2018 secondary school massage Intense endangers his right for fair trials.
Scherer did not describe the reason for the rejection, said he would detail them in a written order later.
But McElroy funds, lawyers for the Associated Press, said it was the right decision.
“This allows access to all audiencies and submissions in the case of this great public concern, which is contemplated and needed by the Constitution,” McERroy said after hearing.
Some media outlets, including AP, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News and CNN have challenged the closing movement.
Lawyer Cruz argues that open audience may openly reveal unacceptable evidence that will never be heard at the trial and that news coverage can create bias among the judges.
The Supreme Court of Florida decided in 1982 that a pretrial hearing was considered open in most circumstances and could be closed only when there were no alternatives available unless moving trials elsewhere in the state.
The prosecutor demanded the trial to be done at Broward County.
Cruz, 22, faces a death sentence if punished at the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Seventeen people were killed and 17 others were injured in the shooting.
Lawyer Cruz said he would plead guilty of the rewards of a prison sentence, but the prosecutor insisted that his fate was decided by the jury trial.
The date of the trial has not been scheduled amid delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a thin scale of this case, which includes interviews by lawyers from several hundred potential witnesses.
Scherer set a series of hearings starting next week for defense and prosecution movements to consider.
He also said Cruz’s lawyer must immediately reveal whether they intend to pursue the madness defense.
“If you, what needs to be submitted in,” said the judge.
Defense lawyers say all except one of their mental health experts has examined Cruz but there is no announcement carried out on madness issues.
Cruz, former Stoneman Douglas student, has a history of mental problems that are well documented before the shooting.