Wounded Parkland Student Claims Conflict In Prosecution Of Gunman

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — The family of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas student who was shot five times in the Valentine's Day massacre, has filed court documents seeking to disqualify the Broward State Attorney's Office and the public defender from the criminal prosecution of accused gunman Nikolas Cruz. The family of 15-year-old Anthony Borges plans to file a lawsuit against the Broward school system, sheriff's office "and others" for negligence. Court documents allege that the prosecution and defense have a shared conflict of interest involving Cruz stemming from a 2016 agreement that allowed the troubled teenager to avoid prosecution for misdemeanor offenses related to bullying allegations.

Attorney Alex Arreaza, who represents the Borges family, said in court documents that the Broward State Attorney's Office and the public defender both entered into a Collaborative Agreement on School Discipline involving Cruz on Oct. 5, 2016.

Arreaza said that Borges was taken off a ventilator in recent days and was breathing on his own. "He's sitting up. He's still on an IV," Arreaza told Patch, adding his client placed his body between himself and the shooter to help save his classmates. "You look at him and his stature will fool you. He is as tough as any man I have ever seen."

The attorney added that a Broward judge was seeking a response from the other parties before ruling on the disqualification request.

"This written agreement addresses student misbehavior and breaches of the code of student conduct," according to court documents. The Broward program allowed Cruz to avoid involving law enforcement for offenses such as theft, vandalism, criminal mischief, harassment, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and threats, the documents said.

"Any competent defense counsel, having found this information, would undoubtedly call the signatories of this document ... as defense witnesses to show a pattern of callous indifference and negligence with regards to student misbehavior in our public school system, which allowed, at least in part, the murderous rampage to be committed by the defendant."

The court documents charge that Cruz may now be able to show "complicity in permitting certain acts to go unchecked or unaddressed" by the failure of officials to address Cruz' aggressive behavior before the shooting. The documents added that the horrific shooting might have been prevented had Cruz received mental, legal or some other type of intervention.

"The Office of the State Attorney in Broward County has now announced that they will seek the death penalty," court documents said. "This undoubtedly will heighten appellate review if such is taken."

The attorney for the Borges family is hoping to have the disqualification requests considered on April 11 or before.

Broward Sheriff Scott Israel visits wounded Stoneman Douglas student Anthony Borges. Photo courtesy Broward Sheriff's Office.