‘Tough case’: What analyst believes days-long deliberations in MSD trial could mean

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Jurors continued to deliberate Wednesday for the third day in the trial of former Parkland school resource Deputy Scot Peterson.

The judge greenlit a request Tuesday by the jury to access a password-protected hard drive that contains key evidence, including six-hours of surveillance video from the entire school.

“While there is still no verdict -- which is something that is going to create anxiety for both sides -- the fact that jurors are continuing to deliberate is a good thing,” legal analyst David Weinstein said.

Peterson, 60, is not charged in connection with those killed or injured on the first floor of the 1200 building, where the massacre occurred, as he did not reach the building until the gunman reached the third floor. No injuries or deaths occurred on the second floor.

Weinstein calls it a “tough case” and weighed in on the ongoing deliberations.

“When jurors continue to deliberate and don’t have any questions that means they are having a meaningful series of deliberations,” Weinstein said. “Remember they asked to request surveillance video which is six hours long so they could simply be looking at that to unblock or un-jam any disagreement they have.”

Peterson is charged with seven counts of felony child neglect for four underage students killed -- Cara Loughran, Peter Wang, Jaime Guttenberg and Joaquin Oliver -- and three wounded -- Marian Kabachenko, Kyle Laman and Anthony Borges -- on the third floor.

DOCUMENTS: View documents related to case of former Parkland school resource Deputy Scot Peterson

Peterson arrived at the building with his gun drawn 73 seconds before Cruz reached that floor, but instead of entering, he backed away as gunfire sounded. He has said he didn’t know where the shots were coming from.

Peterson is also charged with three counts of misdemeanor culpable negligence for the adults shot on the third floor, including murdered teacher Scott Beigel, murdered 18-year-old student Meadow Pollack and teacher Stacey Lippel, who was injured in the shooting.

He also faces a perjury charge for allegedly lying to investigators about what he saw and heard that day to cover up for failing to confront the shooter at a time when he had enough information to take action, but instead chose to retreat.

His defense attorney told jurors that Peterson wasn’t cowering, but rather taking a tactical position of cover because he didn’t know precisely where the shots were coming from and that he did the best job he could with the information he had at the time.

The state has also argued that as a school resource officer, Peterson was a caregiver. The defense has called that a “ludicrous” idea.

Peterson could be sentenced to nearly a century in prison if convicted on the child neglect counts and lose his $104,000 annual pension. His maximum potential sentence would only be 18 months if he was found guilty only of the misdemeanor charges.