Judge: Nikolas Cruz Will Not Be Called An ‘Animal' Or ‘That Thing' During Trial

CBS Miami

September 4, 2021

Confessed Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz cannot be called derogatory terms such as “animal” or “that thing” by prosecutors or their witnesses at his upcoming trial, but calling the killings “a massacre” is legitimate, the judge has ruled.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said in a ruling released Friday that it’s impossible to create a complete list of words that jurors shouldn’t hear to describe Cruz when he’s tried for the Feb. 14, 2018, killings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

She sided with Cruz’s attorneys that calling him names like “animal” or “that thing” during testimony, as some victims’ parents have done in media interviews, would cross the line. But she said the defense request this week that Cruz only be called by his name or “the defendant” goes too far.

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