Verdict watch: Fate of former Parkland school resource deputy now in hands of jury

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – It is now verdict watch in the trial of a former Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy accused of failing to confront the shooter who murdered 14 students and three staff members at a Parkland high school five years ago. After a day of closing arguments, the judge sent the six-member jury at 4:34 p.m. to deliberate.

In closing arguments on Monday morning, the prosecution laid out evidence arguing that Scot Peterson, 60, failed to confront former student Nikolas Cruz before the gunman reached Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s 1200 building and its third floor, where six of the victims died on Valentine’s Day 2018.

Peterson, 60, is charged with felony child neglect and other charges for his alleged failures.

Peterson is not charged in connection with the deaths of 11 people killed on the first floor before he reached the building. It is the first time a U.S. law enforcement officer has been tried in connection with a school shooting.

In its closing arguments, the prosecution stated that Peterson neglected his duties as a “caregiver” as a school resource officer responsible for the welfare of children inside the school.

Security videos show that 36 seconds after Cruz’s attack began, Peterson exited his office about 100 yards (92 meters) from the 1200 building and jumped into a cart with two unarmed civilian security guards. They arrived at the building a minute later.

Peterson got out of the cart near the east doorway to the first-floor hallway. Cruz was at the hallway’s opposite end, firing his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.

Peterson, who wasn’t wearing a bullet-resistant vest, didn’t open the door. Instead, he took cover 75-feet (23 meters) away in the alcove of a neighboring building, his gun still drawn. He stayed there for 40 minutes, long after the shooting ended and other police officers had stormed the building.

Peterson’s defense, however, said the prosecution did not prove its case that Peterson was “cowering,” but rather taking a tactical position of cover after calling in a Code Red.

The prosecution, who presented closing arguments first on Monday, reminded jurors of the deputies and officers that spoke during the trial who did run into the 1200 building to try and stop the shooter and render aid.

“Children would remain trapped inside their classrooms while they were forced to watch their friends bleed out and die . . . the muffled screams of kids who would die amongst their peers. One of the victims, Anthony Borges, would lay in a puddle of his blood for 40 minutes and Anthony Borges would wonder, ‘Why is nobody coming to help me?’ Parents would soon come to find out that help had refused to enter,” Kristen Gomes, assistant state attorney, told the court.

And, Gomes pointed to what she said was the contract Peterson signed that clearly delineated him as a caregiver for the children of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The jury will have to decide whether Peterson was a “caregiver” to the juvenile students who died and were wounded on the third floor — a legal requirement for him to be convicted of child neglect. Florida law defines a caregiver as “a parent, adult household member or other person responsible for a child’s welfare.” Caregivers are guilty of felony neglect if they fail to make a “reasonable effort” to protect children or don’t provide necessary care.

And Gomes wanted the jury to consider the active shooter response training that the state said Peterson received but did not follow.

DOCUMENTS: View arrest warrant for Scot Peterson along with judge’s instructions to the jury.

“Retreating and then standing outside of that building when he knew that the trigger was being pulled and children were dying,” said Gomes.

Gomes told the jury in closing arguments that when “the defendant ran, he left behind an unrestricted killer to spend the next 4 minutes and 15 seconds wandering the halls at his leisure. Because when Scot Peterson ran, he left children trapped inside of a building with a predator unchecked.”

The prosecution told the jury that “what was expected was for Scot Peterson to value the lives of those children as much as he clearly valued his own . . . the defendant’s inactions were inexcusable and his obstruction of the proper police response was inexcusable.”

Gomes asked the jury “to consider all the facts and all of the evidence in this case . . . . render the only verdict that is supported by those things . . . and that is a verdict of finding Scot Peterson guilty as to all of the counts.”

After a break for lunch, Defense Attorney Mark Eiglarsh pointed out why the jury should question the prosecution’s case.

“Their entire case hinges upon this erroneous belief that he knew there were kids in that 1200 building behind shot by this monster and that wasn’t proven,” said Eiglarsh.

Eiglarsh told the jury that instead of thanking his client for “acting heroically by reporting what he knows, we are prosecuting him.”

He wanted the jury to consider police radio communication issues and reiterated what the jury heard from officers and witnesses.

During his two-day presentation, Eiglarsh called several deputies who arrived during the shooting and students and teachers who testified that they did not think the shots were coming from the 1200 building. Peterson, who did not testify, has said that because of echoes, he could not pinpoint the shooter’s location. and that there were witnesses who took the stand who, like his client, didn’t know precisely where the shots were coming from.

“He was damned no matter what. He couldn’t win. Facts don’t matter when we are sacrificed. He was sacrificed. He was thrown under the bus and it continues right now,” Eiglarsh told the court.

Eiglarsh has also emphasized the failure of the sheriff’s radio system during the attack, which limited what Peterson heard from arriving deputies.

Local 10 News heard from family members who lost their own children in the tragedy who said the outcome of this case is about accountability.

“We need to send a message that law enforcement just can’t behind a pillar for 48 minutes while people are getting murdered,” said Max Schacter, whose son Alex Schacter was killed in the Parkland shooting.

Jurors were not able to reach a verdict in the trial on Monday. Deliberations resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Peterson faces up to nearly 100 years in prison if convicted, although because of his clean record a sentence anywhere near that length is highly unlikely. He could also lose his $104,000 annual pension. He had spent nearly three decades working at schools, including nine years at Stoneman Douglas. He retired shortly after the shooting and was then fired retroactively.

Cruz’s jury couldn’t unanimously agree he deserved the death penalty. The 24-year-old former Stoneman Douglas student was then sentenced to life in prison.