Florida Bar Investigates Parkland School Shooter’s Assistant Public Defender

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Florida Bar is investigating one of the assistant public defenders who represented the Parkland school shooter during the final penalty phase in Broward County.

According to attorney Jennifer Krell Davis, a spokeswoman for The Florida Bar, the investigation into Broward Assistant Public Defender Tamara Curtis was ongoing Thursday.

Davis did not specify the scope of the investigation. Florida Bar records show Curtis became a member on April 14, 2004, and is a graduate of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Curtis was not in court Wednesday when Broward County Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced Nikolas Cruz to 34 consecutive mandatory life terms without the possibility of parole and remanded him to the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections.

The families of the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School victims got the last word during a two-day hearing that allowed them to express themselves with symbolic colors, pictures of their loved ones on jewelry and signs — and by behind a podium.

An emotionless Nikolas Cruz sat with a group of Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies behind him. He was with Casey Secor, his capital defense attorney, and most members of the public defense team who fought to save his life and managed to convince three of the 12 jurors to do the same.

Some of the victims’ parents used their time behind the podium to condemn the defense’s efforts to “humanize” “a monster,” “a murderous bastard” and “an animal” and accused them of “putting on a show” to “manipulated”. ” the members of the jury. They did not mention Curtis by name, but several did and responded to her behavior caught on video in court.

“When these people are upset about specific things that happened from that table, like shooting the middle finger in this court and laughing and joking… When these people are sitting in this courtroom and they’ve seen this behavior from her table and they want to say they’re not happy about it, what’s the problem?” Scherer told the defense.

Chief Assistant Public Defender Melisa McNeill disagreed with Scherer.

“I did my job and every member of this team did our job, and we shouldn’t be personally attacked for that,” McNeill said of Scherer.

After the sentencing hearing ended, Scherer hugged prosecutors. She also spent time with some of the victims’ parents, some of whom chose not to speak during the sentencing hearing.

This is a developing story.

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