The Broward Public Defender’s Office has asked to withdraw from confessed Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz’s death penalty case, court records show.
The teen is entitled to half of a nearly $865,000 life insurance policy as of April 23, the court filing shows.
Gordon Weekes, assistant public defender, said “We have to withdraw.”
The move will throw the criminal case off track. The judge had hoped to begin trial in January.
Weekes said the public defender’s office just got new information that Cruz and his brother are to share in the life insurance policy, presumably for their mother, who died unexpectedly of a flu-like illness in November 2017.
The court will have to determine who his new counsel will be, Weekes said.
The Public Defender’s Office is appointed in cases in which people are indigent. Someone with $400,000 is not indigent.
“I’m sure it will require some time for counsel to get up to speed, but I want to be 100 percent clear — this delay should not be attributed to the defense or to Nikolas Cruz. He was unaware of this money. We were unaware of this,” Weekes said.
It’s unclear when or how Cruz, 20, who is locked up in the Broward jail, will get the money.
Weekes said the public defender’s office is prohibited from helping him.
Cruz had previously said he wanted any money he was due to go to the victims, Weekes noted.
Weekes said his office will share certain material with the new defense attorney, but it will be up to the new lawyers to determine their strategy for Cruz’s defense.
Cruz has pleaded not guilty to the murders of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Cruz had offered to plead guilty to the crimes if the State Attorney’s Office would take the death penalty off the table and instead agree to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors have declined to do that.
Weekes said there are over 1 million documents in the case and 4 million pieces of paper, in addition to other digital evidence that needs to be put together and transferred to a new lawyer.
It’s unclear who Cruz could hire to represent him in a death penalty case for a mere $400,000.
“The problem becomes how is he going to facilitate retaining counsel,” Weekes said. “He has no family members here and he has no outside individuals to help him in that. We cannot help him to identify new counsel or make decisions on what to do with his monies. We’re informing the court, we believe he’s no longer indigent and as a result we cannot continue our representation.”
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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