Parkland trial erupts in shouting match between judge, attorney after defense abruptly rests
Published Date: 9/14/2022
Source: FOX 13 Tampa Bay
Just before jurors were supposed to walk into the courtroom Wednesday, defense attorneys for Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz abruptly rested their case. The move sparked outrage from Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, who berated them for their lack of professionalism — leading to a shouting match in court. Judge Scherer called the decision to rest without warning her or the prosecution "the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case." She then accused Cruz's attorneys of being inconsiderate to all involved, but especially the jurors for wasting their trip to court. When lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill countered angrily, "You are insulting me on the record in front of my client," Scherer cut her off. "You’ve been insulting me the entire trial," Scherer retorted. "Blatantly taking your headphones off, arguing with me, storming out, coming late intentionally if you don’t like my rulings. So, quite frankly, this has been long overdue. So please be seated." MORE: https://www.fox13news.com/news/parkland-shooter-trial-defense-suddenly-rests-case-leading-to-shouting-match-with-judge-in-courtroom FOX 13 Tampa Bay brings you the important videos like breaking news, Tampa Bay weather, and local stories. But also plenty of fun stuff, like 'We Live Here' tips, the best of our archives, and all those 'only-in-Florida' stories. Subscribe to FOX 13 News: https://www.youtube.com/FOX13TampaBay?sub_confirmation=1 Watch more FOX 13 News video: https://fox13news.com/ Watch FOX 13 News live: https://fox13news.com/live Download our app: https://fox13news.onelink.me/Sd7G?pid=social&c=youtube&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fox13news.com%2Fapps Get our newsletter: https://www.fox13news.com/email