Florida judge allows re-enactment in Parkland school shooting case
By Rachel Nostrant
(Reuters) - A Florida judge ruled on Wednesday that she will allow a re-enactment of the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, to be filmed as part of the civil suit against resource officer Scot Peterson for allegedly failing to protect students.
The ruling means that in the coming weeks the Feb. 14, 2018 shooting will be recreated, with a gunman roaming the halls of the high school building in Parkland, about 30 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale. He will be armed with an assault-style rifle firing blanks rather than actual rounds. The shooting left 17 people dead and another 17 wounded.
Bullet holes and bloodstains from the shooting remain visible at the high school building, which is set for demolition after Peterson's trial concludes. The re-enactment stems from a suit brought by some of the victims' families.
They claim Peterson, a Broward County sheriff’s deputy assigned to the school, neglected his duty to protect students and teachers during the shooting. In a separate criminal case last month, Peterson was acquitted of 11 counts of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury.
Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips of the Broward County Circuit Court said legal teams for both the defense and the plaintiffs could stage their own re-enactments, but she would rule later on whether video or audio recordings of them could be shown to the jury.
Lawyers for the families argued that a re-enactment would prove that Peterson would have heard the 70-plus gunshots, but chose to avoid the gunman and left students defenseless inside.
David Brill, an attorney for the victims' families, said in the virtual hearing the request came because they "don't want to leave anything to chance" after Peterson's acquittal in the criminal case.
Peterson's attorney, Michael Piper, objected to the re-enactments, saying they would likely be made into "a self-serving documentary" by the plaintiffs.
The judge granted the motion after stipulating that residents nearby be notified beforehand and that the re-enactment would occur before the beginning of the school year in late August.
Nikolas Cruz, the gunman in the shooting, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury spared him from the death penalty.
(Reporting by Rachel Nostrant; Editing by David Gregorio)
