MIAMI – A jury decided Thursday that the former school police officer accused of failing to protect students during the 2018 Parkland school shooting is not guilty of all 11 charges against him.
Jurors spent four days deliberating the case of former Broward County Sheriff Scot Peterson, who stood outside a three-story classroom building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the six-minute attack by the gunman on the 14th. February 2018.
Peterson, 60, was charged with seven counts of child neglect for four students killed and three injured on the third floor of the 1200 building. Peterson arrived at the building, gun drawn, 73 seconds before Nikolas Cruz arrived on that floor. , but instead of going in, he backed away when the shots rang out. He has said that he did not know where the shots were coming from.
Peterson was also charged with three counts of misdemeanor culpable negligence for the adults shot on the third floor, including a teacher and an adult student who were killed. He also faces a perjury charge for allegedly lying to investigators.
Peterson faced close to 100 years in prison, though due to his clean record it was highly unlikely that a sentence would come close to that. He also faced the possibility of losing his $104,000 annual pension. He had spent nearly three decades working in schools, including nine years at Stoneman Douglas. He retired shortly after the shooting and was later retroactively fired.
Prosecutors did not charge Peterson in connection with the 11 deaths and 13 injuries on the first floor before he reached the building. No one was shot on the second floor.
The trial began on June 7 and the jury, which includes four women and two men, began deliberations Monday after hearing closing arguments.
WHAT THE PROSECUTOR AND THE DEFENSE SAID
Assistant State’s Attorney Kristen Gomes said Peterson chose to run and let an unrestrained killer roam the halls for four minutes and 15 seconds.
He also told the jury that another reaction was expected from Peterson: “for example, that he valued the lives of children as much as he valued his own.”
Peterson’s attorney presented his arguments, and he did so with a spirited defense.
Some of the survivors of the February 14, 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland tell how they have lived after the tragic incident.
“He was extraordinary for 32 years, but in 4 minutes and 15 seconds he became a criminal. We are here for that monster,” questioned attorney Mark Eiglarsh. While in court, the monitors showed a photo of the Parkland killer.
He later showed a video showing the school resource officer at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school arriving in a golf cart to the building where the shots were heard.
“One minute and 6 seconds (…) That was the time my client had, from when Aaron Feis was shot, until the moment the monster reached the third floor and started shooting,” said the lawyer.
During his lawyer’s presentation, Scot Peterson broke down and cried. Then Mark Eiglarsh said that his defendant had dedicated years to the protection and care of children.
