BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA: Elizabeth Scherer, 46, a Florida Circuit Judge best known for overseeing Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz's televised sentencing trial, has resigned. After a split jury couldn't agree on the death penalty for the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, which claimed the lives of 14 students and three staff members, Cruz was given a life sentence.
Scherer announced her resignation on Wednesday, May 10, as first reported by Court TV. Her resignation will be effective on June 30, as she is leaving to pursue some other carrier opportunities.
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'It has been a privilege to serve the people of the State of Florida for over 10 years'
In her brief resignation letter to Governor Ron DeSantis, Scherer stated, "It has been a privilege to serve the people of the State of Florida for over 10 years." Scherer, a 46-year-old former prosecutor, was appointed to the bench in 2012. Shortly after the massacre, Broward County's computerized system randomly assigned Cruz's case. It was her first murder trial. Jurors sentenced Cruz to life without a possibility of parole on November 2, 2022. However, she came under fire for showing sympathy for the victim's families even hugging the members of the prosecution after the trial.
The Florida Supreme Court removed Scherer last month from evaluating post-conviction motions of another defendant, Randy Tundidor, who was sentenced to death for murder in the 2019 killing of his landlord. In his complaint, Tundidor claimed that Scherer "engaged in heated exchanges with Cruz's defense team, during which she accused a member of threatening her children and told two members to go sit down," as reported earlier by MEAWW.
Scherer had frequent and heated arguments with the Defence lead
Prior to the trial, she rebuked two Sun Sentinel newspaper reporters for publishing a sealed Cruz educational record that they had gotten legally. She threatened to tell the paper what it could and couldn’t print, but never did follow on it. Scherer also got into fierce and repeated arguments with Cruz's lead public defense, Melisa McNeill.
The trial and the arguments caught many eyeballs. McNeill and her team finally rested their case during the trial after only calling a small percentage of the expected witnesses. Scherer criticized the move, calling it "the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case." However, legal experts noted that the defense had no obligation to call all of its witnesses or announce its plans in advance. McNeill countered Scherer's criticism, stating, "You are insulting me on the record in front of my client," before Scherer instructed her to stop as reported by AP.
'She did so in a professional and dignified manner'
In a statement announcing her resignation, 17th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge, Jack Tutor commended her service as per Court Tv. “During her service, Judge Scherer handled one of the most challenging cases in Broward County’s history. She did so in a professional and dignified manner. On behalf of the 17th Circuit, we wish Judge Scherer good health and prosperity in her future endeavors.”
