Prosecutors and witnesses in the future trial of Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz will not be allowed to use derogatory words to refer to the defendant, according to a ruling by a Florida judge.
It would not be feasible, Broward County Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said, to create "an exhaustive list of words," that should not be used to describe Cruz, who faces 34 counts of premeditated and attempted murder for the February 2018 shooting at a South Florida high school that left 17 people dead. But the use of terms like "animal" or "that thing" would not be permitted during the trial, Scherer said.
However, Scherer's ruling, issued Friday, said the defense had also asked some words not be used -- like "school shooter," "murderer" or "killer" -- were not derogatory, but "normal words or terms that may be used to describe particular facts."
That thinking also applies to words that reference the shooting itself, Scherer said, like "massacre," which describes a "particular circumstance" and is not, "in and of itself," a derogatory word.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Cruz, who previously confessed to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that spawned a massive national protest movement against gun violence in American schools. He has pleaded not guilty, but his attorneys previously said he would plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence without the possibility of parole. A date for the trial has not been set.
The ruling comes after attorneys for Cruz on Wednesday argued in support of two motions to keep state prosecutors and witnesses from referring to Cruz or the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in an "inflammatory manner."
