Parkland Jurors Must Manage Trial Stress On Their Own

By CBS Miami Team, CBS Miami

July 4, 2022

The jurors chosen this past week to decide whether Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz is executed will visit a bloodstained crime scene, view graphic photos and videos and listen to intense emotional testimony - an experience that they will have to manage entirely on their own.

Throughout what is expected to be a monthslong penalty trial, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will order jurors not to talk to anyone about what they have seen, heard or thought. Not their spouse. Not their best friend. Not their clergy or therapist. Not even each other until deliberations begin. The order is not unusual; it is issued at all trials to ensure jurors' opinions aren't influenced by outsiders.

Once the trial ends, the 12 jurors and 10 alternates can unload to others - but they won't receive any assistance from the judicial system. As is the case in most of the United States, neither Florida nor Broward County courts provide juries with post-trial counseling.

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