FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Closing the arguments are programmed Monday at the trial of a former Florida deputy sheriff accused of failing to confront the shooter he killed 14 students and three staff members at a Parkland high school five years ago.
Prosecutors and attorney for former Broward County deputy scottish peterson he spent his trial questioning what he heard, saw and knew during the six-minute attack inside a three-story classroom building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.
Peterson, 60, is charged with child neglect and other charges for his alleged failure to confront a former student. nicholas cruz before the gunman reached the third floor of the 1200 building, where six of the victims died.
Peterson is not charged in connection with the deaths of 11 people on the first floor before reaching the building.
It is the first time a US law enforcement officer has been tried in connection with a school shooting.
Prosecutors, during their two-week presentation, called students, teachers and law enforcement officers who testified about the horror they experienced and how they knew where Cruz was.
Some said they knew for sure that the shots came from the 1200 building. Prosecutors also called training supervisor who testified that Peterson did not follow protocols for confronting an active shooter.
During his two-day presentation, Peterson’s attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, called several officers who arrived during the shooting and students and teachers who testified that they did not believe the shots came from the 1200 building.
Peterson, who did not testify, has said that because of the echoes, he was unable to pinpoint the location of the shooter.
Eiglarsh also emphasized the failure of the sheriff’s radio system during the attack, which limited what Peterson heard from arriving deputies.
The jury will also have to decide whether Peterson was a “caretaker” for the minor students who were killed and injured on the third floor, a legal requirement for him to be convicted of child neglect.
Florida law defines a caregiver as “a parent, adult household member, or other person responsible for the welfare of a child.” Caregivers are guilty of gross negligence if they fail to make a “reasonable effort” to protect children or provide necessary care.
Security video shows that 36 seconds after Cruz’s attack began, Peterson left his office about 100 yards from the 1200 building and jumped into a cart with two unarmed civilian security guards. They reached the building a minute later.
Peterson alighted from the cart near the east door of the first-floor hallway. Cruz was at the opposite end of the hall, firing his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle.
Peterson, who was not wearing a bulletproof vest, did not answer the door. Instead, he took cover 75 feet away in the alcove of a neighboring building, gun still drawn.
He stayed there for 40 minutes, long after the shooting had ended and other police officers had stormed the building.
Peterson faces up to nearly 100 years in prison if convicted, though due to his clean record it’s highly unlikely a sentence would come anywhere near that length.
You could also lose your $104,000 annual pension. She had spent nearly three decades working in schools, including nine years at Stoneman Douglas. He retired shortly after the shooting and was later retroactively fired.
Cruz’s jury could not unanimously I agree that he deserved the death penalty. The 24-year-old Stoneman Douglas alumnus was later sentenced to life imprisonment.
