Prosecutors call for probe into Nikolas Cruz juror’s claim she was threatened in deliberation room
Cruz juror ‘received what she perceived to be a threat’ from fellow juror during deliberations
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Prosecutors in the Nikolas Cruz capital sentencing trial have called for an investigation into claims a juror was threatened during deliberations by another juror.
The state filed a motion with the court asking Judge Elizabeth Scherer asking for her to order law enforcement to speak to the juror at the centre of the claims, according to CNN.
The juror’s identity and which verdict they supported are not identified in the filing, but jurors have spoken of their frustration at a “holdout” panelist who rejected the death penalty verdict.
The filing, obtained by CNN, states: “Juror X spoke to a support staff member and informed the support staff member that during deliberations she received what she perceived to be a threat from a fellow juror while in the jury room.
“The State did not call Juror X back and instead, filed a Notice to the Court.”
After the jury returned a sentence of life imprisonment on Thursday, family members of the 17 students and staff members killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2012 erupted in fury at the verdict.
Jury foreman Benjamin Thomas told CBS Miami that one juror had been adamant from the beginning of deliberations that Cruz should not receive the death penalty because he was mentally ill.
Mr Thomas told the station he was “not happy with how it worked out”.
Another unnamed juror told 10 Local News: “We did go back there and try to hash things out. There was one juror that was just very set in what she believed and that was the life (verdict).”
The juror who rejected the death penalty, identified as Denise Cunha, wrote a note to Judge Scherer in which she denied claims from other jurors that she had made up her mind before the trial started, Mediaite reported.
“This allegation is untrue and I maintained my oath to the court that I would be fair and unbiased,” the juror wrote.
“The deliberations were very tense and some jurors became extremely unhappy once I mentioned that I would vote for life.”
The decision to spare Cruz’s life stunned relatives of the victims.
“There are 17 victims that did not receive justice today,” Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter Jaime, told a news conference.