AP

Parkland jurors must manage trial stress on their own

Jul 2, 2022, 6:36 AM | Updated: Jul 17, 2022, 9:20 am

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The jurors chosen to decide whether Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz is executed will visit a bloodstained crime scene, view graphic photos and videos and listen to intense emotional testimony — an experience they will have to manage entirely on their own.

Throughout what is expected to be a monthslong penalty trial that starts Monday, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will order jurors not to talk with anyone about what they have seen, heard or thought. Not their spouse. Not their best friend. Not their clergy or therapist. Not even each other until deliberations begin. The order is not unusual; it is issued at all trials to ensure jurors’ opinions aren’t influenced by outsiders.

Once the trial ends, the 12 jurors and 10 alternates can unload to others — but they won’t receive any assistance from the judicial system. As is the case in most of the United States, neither Florida nor Broward County courts provide juries with post-trial counseling.

The only state to do so is Massachusetts, which has only offered the service since December. Since 2005, federal courts have offered assistance after about 20 trials annually, usually those involving the death penalty, child pornography and child abuse cases, said federal court system spokesman Charles Hall.

“Judges and jurors alike appreciate” the program, Hall said, “viewing it as an acknowledgment of the extraordinary stresses that jury service in certain types of trials can entail.”

“That said, the program is not well-used,” Hall added.

The Cruz jurors will tour the now-abandoned three-story building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland where Cruz, 23, fatally shot 14 students and three staff members and wounded 17. Its bullet-pocked halls remain unchanged since shortly after the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre, with Valentine’s Day gifts still strewn about.

They will view graphic security video of terrified teens and teachers being shot point-blank or running for their lives, examine autopsy and crime scene photos and hear heartrending testimony from wounded survivors and family members of the murder victims. When it is over, the jurors will grapple with the weighty decision of whether a young adult — even someone responsible for one of the worst slaughters in the nation’s history — should live or die.

“It’s going to be horrible,” Cruz’s lead attorney, Melisa McNeill, recently warned one potential juror in court.

Jim Wolfcale was foreman of the Virginia jury that convicted Lee Boyd Malvo for his role in one of the multiple deaths that resulted in 2002 from a series of high-profile sniper shootings in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland.

Wolfcale said he sometimes found it difficult not to discuss the case with other jurors, particularly after Malvo appeared “disrespectful or arrogant” during testimony.

“I would be like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ so it would be hard not to talk about. I would wonder, ‘Am I thinking right? Are the other guys and girls on the jury thinking what I am thinking?'” said Wolfcale, a minister. But outside court, his wife and friends never asked about the case, knowing he couldn’t talk. “My friends would just say, ‘We’re praying for you.'”

Malvo, in his teens like Cruz, admitted in court to killing 17 people, including some before the D.C. sniper attacks. Unlike Cruz, he committed the slayings over nine months in multiple states.

Cruz pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder, but is challenging his possible death sentence. For him to receive death, all jurors must agree. Otherwise, the former Stoneman Douglas student will receive life without parole.

For all or most of Cruz’s jurors, this will undoubtedly be their first exposure to graphic gun violence and they will be dealing with the deadliest mass shooting that has ever gone to trial in the U.S. Nine other people in the U.S. who fatally shot at least 17 people died during or immediately after their attacks by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in the 2019 massacre of 23 at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart is awaiting trial.

Wolfcale said that during the Malvo trial, other jurors sometimes broke down in the jury room after seeing graphic evidence or hearing emotional testimony. They would hug, and divert themselves by talking about the upcoming Christmas holidays. Malvo ultimately received a life sentence instead of the death penalty because the jury was split, partly because of the defendant’s young age.

Wolfcale — who voted to execute Malvo — said he didn’t feel stress until late on the trial’s final day. Then, he said, “It hit me” — and stayed with him for months.

“Even today, 20 years later, when your adrenaline is high, you can recall a lot, but that first six months it was on my mind constantly,” he said.

Responding to a survey conducted by the Center for Jury Studies, 70% of questioned jurors said they experienced stress during routine trials, according to center director Paula Hannaford-Agor. She said 10% reported severe stress, though that usually abated quickly.

In contrast, about 10% of jurors who served on high-profile, graphic trials reported long-term stress, Hannaford-Agor said. They displayed post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms similar to those exhibited by some police officers, firefighters and emergency room doctors, she said. The difference is that the first-responders can talk to colleagues, friends and counselors in real time, while the stress is building.

“Jurors, of course, are told they are not allowed to talk about any of it” until the trial is over, Hannaford-Agor said.

Studies also show many jurors who imposed a death sentence question themselves long after the trial.

“None of those said this was something that had completely derailed their lives, but … years later they were still thinking about it and wondering if they made the right decision, and remember how difficult that decision was,” Hannaford-Agor said.

On their own, jurors 65 and older can get mental health services through Medicare. Younger jurors may have coverage through jobs or private insurance, but that sometimes requires co-pays and deductibles running into thousands of dollars. That could deter many.

In addition to the cost factor, courts don’t offer programs because judges and other officials have experience processing graphic evidence and can talk to others during the trial, Hannaford-Agor said. They might not fully appreciate jurors’ stress levels.

Judges “aren’t feeling it quite as intensely,” she said. ___

Associated Press researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

A demonstrator in Tel Aviv holds a sign calling for a cease-fire in the Hamas-Israel war on Nov. 21...

Associated Press

Hamas releases a third group of hostages as part of truce, and says it will seek to extend the deal

The fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas was back on track Sunday as the first American was released under a four-day truce.

4 days ago

Men look over the site of a deadly explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct. 18, ...

Associated Press

New AP analysis of last month’s deadly Gaza hospital explosion rules out widely cited video

The Associated Press is publishing an updated visual analysis of the deadly Oct. 17 explosion at Gaza's Al-Ahli Hospital.

8 days ago

Peggy Simpson holds a photograph of law enforcement carrying Lee Harvey Oswald's gun through a hall...

Associated Press

JFK assassination remembered 60 years later by surviving witnesses to history, including AP reporter

Peggy Simpson is among the last surviving witnesses who are sharing their stories as the nation marks the 60th anniversary.

8 days ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Sunday, ...

Associated Press

Israeli Cabinet approves cease-fire with Hamas; deal includes release of 50 hostages

Israel’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a cease-fire deal with the Hamas militant group that would bring a temporary halt to a devastating war.

9 days ago

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump helps serve food to Texas Natio...

Associated Press

Trump receives endorsement from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during a visit to a US-Mexico border town

Donald Trump picked up the Texas governor’s endorsement Sunday during a visit to a U.S.-Mexico border town.

11 days ago

Eric Trump, executive vice president of Trump Organization Inc., speaks to the media as he leaves f...

Associated Press

Lawyers in Trump’s civil fraud trial are ordered to clam up about judge’s communications with staff

Eric Trump testified Friday that he was relying on accountants to ensure the accuracy of financial statements.

27 days ago

Sponsored Articles

Follow @KTAR923...

Valley residents should be mindful of plumbing ahead of holidays

With Halloween in the rear-view and more holidays coming up, Day & Night recommends that Valley residents prepare accordingly.

...

Desert Institute for Spine Care

Desert Institute for Spine Care (DISC) wants to help Valley residents address back, neck issues through awake spine surgery

As the weather begins to change, those with back issues can no longer rely on the dry heat to aid their backs. That's where DISC comes in.

...

DAY & NIGHT AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING AND PLUMBING

Importance of AC maintenance after Arizona’s excruciating heat wave

An air conditioning unit in Phoenix is vital to living a comfortable life inside, away from triple-digit heat.

Parkland jurors must manage trial stress on their own