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Public defenders representing Parkland School shooter Nikolas Cruz on Wednesday asked to be excluded from the trial after learning that the serial killer was to inherit more than $ 430,000.
In a motion to withdraw from the case, the Broward County Public Defender's Office said that Cruz should receive half of his mother's life insurance policy, a value of 864,929.17 USD.
"It is forbidden by law to the Office of the Public Defender to represent an indigent defendant," said the lawyers in the case.
SCHOOL SUSPECT ADVOCATES FOR SCHOOLS IN FLORIDA WANT TO ASK ONLY HER MENTAL COUNSEL
Public defender Howard Finkelstein and his senior assistant, Gordon Weekes, said they had only learned the existence of the insurance policy this week, according to the Associated Press.
Finkelstein said it was not clear whether Cruz would receive insurance money or change his lawyer.
The Parkland school gun suspect, Nikolas Cruz, speaks with his lawyer in court to present a motion for defense at the Broward courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Thursday, April 18, 2019.
(Mike Stocker / Sun-Sentinel from South Florida via AP, Pool)
He explained that Cruz is also facing civil proceedings brought by the families of the victims.
"The lawyers for the victims' families will probably freeze those assets," Finkelstein told the Washington Post. "Because of their significant trauma and terrible loss, they are entitled, according to the law, to receive monetary damages. So, if they freeze these assets, there will be no access. "
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Finkelstein noted that the case had already resulted in more than 4 million pages of discovery and that questions regarding the insurance policy could delay further the trial, which should begin early in the year next.
Cruz faces 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the February 14, 2018 shootout at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Cruz pleaded not guilty, but his lawyers said he would be willing to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. Prosecutors demand the death penalty.
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