Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz set for windfall, leading public defenders to request withdrawing
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The public defenders representing Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz on Wednesday asked to be removed from the case after learning the mass killer is due to inherit more than $430,000.
In a motion to withdraw from the case, the Broward County Public Defender's Office said Cruz is set to receive half of his late mother’s life insurance policy worth $864,929.17.
"The Law Office of the Public Defender is statutorily prohibited from representing a non-indigent defendant," the attorneys said in the filing.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ATTORNEYS FOR FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING SUSPECT WANT TO QUESTION HIS MENTAL COUNSELORS ALONE
Public defender Howard Finkelstein and his top assistant, Gordon Weekes, said they only learned about the insurance policy this week, according to the Associated Press.
Finkelstein said it is not clear if Cruz will receive any of the insurance money or actually change lawyers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Parkland school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz speaks with his attorney in court for a defense motion at the Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Thursday, April 18, 2019. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)
He explained that Cruz also faces civil lawsuits filed by families of the victims.
“The victims’ families’ lawyers are probably going to move to freeze those assets,” Finkelstein told the Washington Post. “Because of their significant trauma and awful loss, they’re entitled under the law to receive monetary damages. So if they freeze those assets, then he doesn’t have access to them.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Finkelstein noted that the case has already resulted in more than 4 million pages of discovery, and questions surrounding the insurance policy could further delay the trial, which is scheduled to begin early next year.
Cruz faces 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
Cruz has pleaded not guilty, but his attorneys have said he would be willing to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.