PARKLAND, Fla. – The Broward State Attorney’s Office has now suffered two back-to-back Parkland school shooting trial defeats.
In the Parkland school shooter’s penalty phase, the state was seeking a death sentence, but the jury decided life in prison was the appropriate punishment.
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In the case of Scot Peterson, the former Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy the state said failed to confront the shooter, charging him with multiple counts, including seven felony child neglect charges, the jury’s verdict was not guilty on all 11 counts.
“The State Attorney’s Office has to be deeply disappointed with the verdicts that were reached by the jurors,” former state and federal prosecutor David Weinstein said.
Weinstein told Local 10 News that when it comes to the Parkland shooter’s case, while the sentencing outcome didn’t feel like “justice” to some Parkland family members, the state did secure legal “accountability” when in 2021, the shooter told the court he was guilty of shooting and wounding a total of 34 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School staff and students on Feb. 14, 2018.
“While perhaps not what the victim families were seeking, (it) will ensure that the Parkland shooter never comes out of prison before the end of his life,” Weinstein said.
The prosecution’s novel approach to the Peterson case was “outside the box,” according to Weinstein, as identifying a school resource officer as a caregiver was always a tough case for the state.
“They were fitting facts into existing law and we saw just how difficult a task that was,” Weinstein said. “They had to understand from the beginning this was not going to be an easy case for them to prove … it all came down to what was reasonable given the facts and circumstances, and six people decided that what he did, based on the evidence presented, that they had to consider, they believed his actions were reasonable and did not fit the definition of culpable negligence.”
Father Tony Montalto, who lost his daughter Gina in the shooting, told reporters Thursday, “My faith in the U.S. justice system in shaken.”
“I can certainly understand how the victims and next-of-kin of the victims have lost their will to believe in our criminal justice system. They believe it has failed them because it did not achieve the verdicts they were looking for,” Weinstein said. “However, our system is one that we have to embrace because it gives people the opportunity to defend themselves and the prosecution to present their best case, and as our Constitution guarantees a jury of our peers to decide whether the prosecution has met that burden.”
Local 10 News has reached out to the Broward State Attorney’s Office for comment but has not yet received a response.