Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/Pool/AP
Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School resource officer Scot Peterson appears May 31 at a defense table at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
CNN
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The trial of the former school resource officer who remained outside a Parkland, Florida, high school five years ago while 17 people were shot inside got off to a tense start Wednesday, as prosecutors began presenting the their opening statement.
The state has accused retired Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputy Scot Peterson of failing to follow his active shooter training by staying outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, hiding at least 45 minutes as a former student conducted what remains the deadliest. high school shooting in US history. Among those killed were 14 students and three staff members; 17 others were injured.
The case underscores the expectations for officers to respond to active shooters as the nation faces a seemingly endless scourge of gun violence, with schools like those in Parkland; Uvalde, Texas; and Newtown, Connecticut, are etched in public memory as the scenes of some of the most devastating massacres.
Peterson has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts — including seven counts of felony child neglect, three counts of culpable neglect and one count of profanity — and maintains he has done nothing wrong. The 60-year-old, who retired due to criticism of his alleged failure, said that he did not enter the killings in the 1200 building of the school because he did not know where the gunshot came from.
Before the shooting, Peterson was a dedicated and decorated officer who served for more than three decades, his attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, told CNN.
“After a 32-year career, this loving husband and father of four left the hero, and in 4 minutes and 15 seconds, he became a criminal,” said the defense attorney.
Jury selection began Wednesday, resulting in a panel of six jurors and four alternates. tasked with evaluating the unusual case of the state, which CNN experts described as the first of its kind and a legal one.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office charged Peterson under Florida law that generally applies to custodians, arguing that the former deputy, in his capacity as a school resource officer, was a custodian responsible for the protection of high school students and staff.
Peterson was in the school administration building on February 14, 2018, when the shooter opened fire on the first floor of the 1200 building, according to the probable cause affidavit. Peterson arrived at the building’s east entrance about 2 minutes later, per the affidavit’s timeline.
Peterson moved about 75 feet away and “positioned himself behind the stairwell wall at the northeast corner of the 700 Building” — a third structure on campus — the affidavit said, calling it that “cover position” he held for the duration of the shooting.
In a blow to the state and the defense, the judge last week ordered jurors not to travel to the scene of the shooting, as the jury did in the shooter’s trial, CNN affiliate WPLG reported. Eiglarsh wanted the jury to see the exterior of the 1200 building, which has been preserved pending the trials of the shooter and Peterson, while prosecutors wanted jurors to see the building’s interior as well.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Two staff members look at the memorial in front of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 23, 2018, as teachers and staff returned for the first time since the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
In addition to the child neglect and negligence charges, Peterson was charged with perjury for telling investigators he only heard two or three gunshots after arriving at the scene of the shooting, the affidavit states. as, while other witnesses said they heard more.
Peterson’s attorney sought to argue, in part, that his client’s confusion about the shooter’s location was reasonable and shared by others at the scene, including members of law enforcement, teachers and students, Eiglarsh told CNN. . The attorney also believes that Peterson’s actions at the scene illustrate that he was not negligent but reacted as best he could with the information he had, he said.
Additionally, Eiglarsh disagreed with the decision to charge his client under the care law, he told CNN, calling the choice “absurd.”
“He’s not a legal guardian,” Eiglarsh said, acknowledging that he understood the argument. “But he is not a teacher, he is not a parent, he is not a kidnapper who is responsible for the welfare of a child. He was not hired by the school system.”
Previously, Peterson and his lawyers argued that the caretaker law did not apply to him, emphasizing that one person was responsible for the deaths and injuries that day: the gunman, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty -on 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder and was sentenced last year to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury refused to unanimously recommend the death penalty.
That result angered and disappointed many of the victims’ families, including some who saw Peterson’s trial as another chance for justice.
“We will not portray or allow the defense team or the deputy who failed to act properly to portray himself as a victim,” Tony Montalto, the father of 14-year-old victim Gina Montalto told CNN in jury selection has not yet taken place. “He was charged with keeping students and staff safe, and he failed to do so.”
“Regardless of the outcome of the trial,” he said, “I hope he is haunted every day by the fact that his actions cost lives.”
