Florida school massacre case no closer to a trial date

Posted: Dec 11, 2020 / 05:42 PM EST / Updated: Dec 11, 2020 / 05:42 PM EST

In this Dec. 10, 2019 Nikolas Cruz appears at a hearing in Fort Lauderdale Fla. The death penalty trial of Cruz, the man charged with killing 17 people at a Florida high school is off indefinitely because of restrictions related to the coronavirus. Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said Monday, June 22, 2020, in a hearing held remotely that it’s not even clear when the courthouse will reopen to the public. It’s been closed since March 16. Cruz is charged with fatally shooting 17 people and wounding 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 2018. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The 2018 Florida school massacre in which 17 people were killed and 17 others wounded is still not close to going to trial.

Defense lawyers for 22-year-old Nikolas Cruz said at a hearing Friday there remain difficulties related to the coronavirus with getting mental health experts into the Broward County jail to interview him.

The experts also don’t want to travel to Florida until the virus abates.

Cruz faces the death penalty if convicted of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

His lawyers have said he would plead guilty in exchange for a life prison sentence.