FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - There are new details in regards to the life or death sentencing trial for the Parkland shooter. Someone who has close ties with the shooter is refusing to testify and blaming the prosecution.
Zachary Cruz was expected to be called to the witness stand by the defense team, but he has since refused to testify after posting to Instagram on Tuesday.
“He wants everyone to know he doesn’t support what his brother did,” said Amina Methany-Willard, Zachary Cruz’s Attorney. “It’s awful, but his brother had problems that Broward County could have responded to but chose not to.”
The adoptive older brother of confessed shooter Nikolas Cruz released a statement on Instagram addressing why he refused to testify in court.
On page one it reads, “My decision not to testify rests in the years of harassment I’ve received from Broward County, which only got worse after I moved to Virginia. Broward prosecutors partnered with a racist Virginia sheriff and a corrupt prosecutor to attempt to arrest me, search my home, and subject me to a conservatorship. I am not interested in being a scapegoat for my brother or Broward County. I ran away from home all the time because it was crazy and dangerous there. The police brought me back to the nightmare every time. It seems both sides want to make me the bad guy, and I’m tired of it.”
“Broward County has been harassing him since he left broward,” said Methany-Willard.
Further into the post, he made accusations of witness tampering by the prosecution but did not expand on that statement.
They are allegations his attorney brought up to Judge Elizabeth Scherer early in the trial, asking the judge to call for an investigation.
“If you feel that’s the case, then you, ma’am, by all means, should be contacting police yourself,” said Scherer.
It’s not the first time the judge has heard accusations of witness tampering.
Early this month, defense attorneys accused a prosecutor of reaching out to a witness and that the call was out of bounds.
“Mr. Vesey felt very nervous and very uncomfortable,” said lead defense attorney Melisa McNeil.
“Your honor, I feel compelled– this is totally not true,” said Jeff Marcus, prosecutor. “I did have a conversation, called his lawyer, asked him if I could speak to his client.”
The judge did not weigh in on that situation, but now Zachary says he wants no part of this trial.
Zachary’s statement also reads: “I love my brother, though I hate what he did. There is no excuse for what he did, only questions about why it was permitted to happen, and we all deserve to have those answers. The families deserve closure. My brother needs a fair trial. This circus of a trial isn’t accomplishing either.”
Both of the Cruz brothers were adopted by Linda and Roger Cruz.
Zachary Cruz gained attention in the media a few years ago for trespassing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, shortly after the shooting.
Much of the defense has rested on the way the confessed shooter had grown up, along with the effects that his biological mother had on him.
The State Attorney’s Office sent a statement to 7News in regards to Zachary refusing to testify, writing, “There is no merit to any of the allegations that he made on Instagram.” They also said every time they spoke with Zachary Cruz he always had his lawyer present and that everything was always on the up and up every time they spoke with him.
Now that the defense has rested, we will most certainly not hear from Zachary Cruz during the trial.
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