Sometime within the subsequent few weeks, somebody carrying an assault-style rifle — loaded with clean rounds as a substitute of reside ammunition — will re-enact how a gunman carried out a lethal mass taking pictures 5 years in the past at a Florida highschool. A decide selected Wednesday to permit the re-enactment as a part of a civil swimsuit.
Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips of the Broward County Circuit Court granted the weird request from the households of 4 of the 17 individuals who have been killed and one of many 17 injured survivors of the Feb. 14, 2018, bloodbath at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
The decide cited authorized precedent in permitting the plaintiffs’ movement for the re-enactment to happen, however she left open the query of whether or not any video or audio recordings of the re-enactment could be admissible at trial, which can be litigated at a future date.
The plaintiffs sought the re-enactment as a part of their civil case towards Scot Peterson, the Broward County sheriff’s deputy who was assigned to the college. Other civil circumstances they’ve introduced towards the Justice Department, over the way it dealt with tricks to the F.B.I. warning in regards to the gunman, and towards the Broward County college district resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements two years in the past.
A jury acquitted Mr. Peterson in June of kid neglect and different prison costs stemming from his failure to hurry into the college constructing the place the taking pictures befell, often called the 1200 constructing. His protection attorneys argued that Mr. Peterson, the one armed college useful resource officer on the campus, had not been positive of the place the gunshots have been coming from or what number of shooters there have been.
David W. Brill, a lawyer for the plaintiffs within the civil case, mentioned in a digital court docket listening to on Wednesday {that a} re-enactment would assist present that Mr. Peterson “could and did hear the gunshots, and he could and did derive where they were coming from.”
Michael Piper, a lawyer for Mr. Peterson, countered {that a} re-enactment couldn’t account for the entire variables that occurred in the course of the precise taking pictures. “Blanks do not sound anything like live rounds,” he mentioned, calling any ensuing video from the re-enactment merely a “movie.”
He additionally argued that if the plaintiffs have been allowed to conduct a re-enactment with their specialists, then the protection ought to be allowed to conduct a second re-enactment with its personal specialists. Judge Phillips agreed, however urged the 2 sides to coordinate their efforts in order that the re-enactments may occur on the identical day or consecutive days.
The timing could also be tight: The 1200 constructing, fenced off and left unused because the day of the taking pictures, has been slated for demolition as soon as the prison trials have been concluded. The gunman pleaded responsible and was sentenced final yr to life in jail. Now that Mr. Peterson’s prison trial is over as properly, the Broward County public college district needs to tear down the constructing this summer time, earlier than college students return for lessons within the fall.
The 1200 constructing has remained standing as if frozen in time, pocked with bullet holes and stained inside with blood. During the gunman’s sentencing trial, a prison court docket decide granted prosecutors’ request for jurors to tour the crime scene, an exceedingly uncommon prevalence. During Mr. Peterson’s trial, a special decide determined to not enable an identical tour.
Some victims’ households have additionally requested to stroll by means of the constructing as a manner of in search of closure. After Mr. Peterson’s trial ended, prosecutors escorted these households contained in the constructing in small teams.
On Wednesday, Judge Phillips mentioned she didn’t need the re-enactment or re-enactments to decelerate the demolition plans for the constructing or trigger the Parkland group additional trauma. The households of all of the victims signed off on the plaintiffs’ request, and a metropolis commissioner mentioned that public officers would give neighbors of the college grounds as a lot advance discover as doable about any re-enactment, which is more likely to entice media consideration and require highway closures.
“I’m trying to recognize the residents of the city,” Judge Phillips mentioned, “and not do this all for naught.”
Source: www.nytimes.com