Parkland Juror Threatened By Fellow Juror, Investigation Possible

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — Prosecutors in the sentencing trial for Nikolas Cruz are asking a judge to allow law enforcement to open an investigation after a juror claimed she was threatened by a fellow juror, according to a CNN report.

The jury on Thursday recommended Cruz spend life in prison without parole for killing 17 people and wounding 17 others in 2018 when he opened fire on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

The jury rejected the death penalty for Cruz, who pleaded guilty last October to the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting rampage that killed 14 students and three staff members.

• RELATED: Nikolas Cruz, Parkland School Shooter, Sentenced To Life In Prison

According to CNN, the juror contacted prosecutors following Thursday's sentencing recommendation. The juror "informed the support staff member that during deliberations she received what she perceived to be a threat from a fellow juror while in the jury room," the Sun-Sentinel reported.

Prosecutors then filed a motion asking Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer to compel law enforcement officers to interview the juror. Officials are asking law enforcement to talk to the juror making the accusation because "a crime may have been committed.”

The court filing did not identify the juror or which sentence the juror supported, CNN reported.

A hearing for the state’s motion is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. Friday, according to reports.

A unanimous vote was required to recommend the death penalty for Cruz; however, the jury rejected it on all 17 first-degree murder convictions. The parents and families of the victims shook their heads and wiped away tears as the recommendations were read.

"This jury failed our families today," Fred Guttenberg told the New York Times. Guttenberg's daughter, Jaime, was among those killed in the Parkland shooting. "Seventeen families did not receive justice."

According to the Sun-Sentinel, juror Denise Cunha wrote a letter to Scherer on Thursday saying she angered fellow panelists when she said she would not vote to execute Cruz.

“The deliberations were very tense and some jurors became extremely unhappy once I mentioned that I would vote life,” she wrote.

Jury foreman Benjamin Thomas told local reporters that three jurors voted for life on the final ballot. Two were willing to reconsider, but one was a “hard no” for the death penalty.

"It really came down to a specific (juror) that he (Cruz) was mentally ill," Thomas said. He did not say whether that person was Cunha.

In Florida, threatening a juror is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.