A South Florida jury acquitted Scot Peterson of child-neglect and culpable negligence charges Thursday, more than five years after the former Parkland, Fla., school resource officer was branded a “coward” for not doing enough to stop the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people and injured 17 others while he stood at a safe distance.
Six jurors deliberated for more than 19 hours over four days at the Broward County Courthouse after closing arguments ended Monday in the trial of Peterson, the first U.S. law enforcement officer tried in connection with a school shooting. Peterson, 60, was accused of not confronting the Parkland gunman for roughly 45 minutes as the then-deadliest high school shooting in American history unfolded on Feb. 14, 2018. Peterson, whom some victims’ families and former colleagues dubbed “the Coward of Broward,” was charged with seven counts of felony child neglect and three of culpable negligence – all of which came from the 10 people who were wounded or killed during the attack on the third floor of the high school’s 1200 building.
Peterson, who could have faced a prison sentence of nearly 100 years for each count of child neglect, cried as the judge read “not guilty” to each count.
“I’ve got my life back,” Peterson told reporters after the verdict.
Peterson did not testify during the trial, which lasted almost two weeks in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., less than 30 miles from the site of the 2018 attack. His attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, built a defense focused on the testimony of deputies, teachers and students who said in court that they did not know where the shots were coming from. Peterson has long insisted that there was nothing else he could have done to prevent the shooting, contending that the lack of information, the failure of the sheriff’s radio system and the echo of gunfire made it impossible to determine where the shooting was coming from.
“The prosecutors tried to sacrifice and pursue baseless charges against a man who did everything he could with the limited information he had under the most stressful of circumstances,” Eiglarsh told The Washington Post after the verdict.
Prosecutors brought up other law enforcement officers, teachers and students who said they knew where Nikolas Cruz was shooting and were baffled that Peterson did not know and “chose to run.” Another witness called by state attorneys was Broward County Detective John Curcio, who led the investigation into the massacre. Curcio testified that Peterson did not follow the protocols in place for confronting a gunman during a mass shooting, saying Peterson’s duty during the chaos was “to stop [Cruz] from killing people.”
Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor said in a statement that he was disappointed in the acquittal and that he rejected claims that prosecutors made Peterson’s case a political one.
“It is not political to expect someone to do their job. Especially when it’s the vital job of being a school resource officer – an armed law enforcement officer with special duties and responsibilities to the children and staff members they are contracted to protect,” Pryor said. “Scot Peterson’s inaction and the misinformation he provided to law enforcement officers had a dire impact on the children and adults who died or were injured on the third floor of the 1200 Building.”
After hugging Peterson outside the courtroom, Eiglarsh told reporters that the acquittal shows that “the system works.”
“This is not just a victory for Scot, but for every law enforcement officer in this country who does the best they can every single day,” Eiglarsh said.
Peterson’s case has taken on new scrutiny in the year since 21 people, including 19 children, were killed at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex. Parents and legal experts say there are questions in both cases surrounding whether and how to hold officers accountable for inaction after a shooting. Parents of victims in Texas have urged prosecutors to hold accountable officers who waited 77 minutes to confront the gunman in that mass killing. None have been charged.
Peterson’s acquittal was announced more than eight months after Cruz was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison. Cruz fired 139 rounds during his 6-minute, 22-second rampage. The October sentence left many victims’ families feeling betrayed by the justice system.
Peterson, the school’s resource officer for nearly a decade, didn’t set foot inside the building where the shooting was happening, despite being the first armed officer at the scene. While Cruz was shooting, Peterson and another officer walked away from the 1200 building and established a position 75 feet away at the 700 building. Peterson “remains at this position for the duration of the incident and only transmits information via his radio,” according to an investigation by the sheriff’s office.
In an interview over email before the trial, Peterson argued that “the pronounced echo that I and countless others experienced under the most stressful moment of my life made it impossible to determine the precise location of the shooter.”
The response by the Broward Sheriff’s Office sparked an outcry, the resignations of several officers and the ouster of the sheriff. Much of the criticism was directed toward Peterson, whom the sheriff’s office fired before he was charged.
“I reflect on that shooting every single day, many times per day,” Peterson told The Post. “How can you not when a monster shot 34 people?”
He added, “I’ve been living a nightmare that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
Experts have said finding Peterson guilty was always going to be a challenge for a jury because of the charges brought against him. Throughout the trial, prosecutors aimed to prove he was working that day in the capacity of a caregiver, which was difficult because the term usually does not refer to a law enforcement officer. The wording in the state law, which identifies a caregiver as being “a parent, adult household member, or other person responsible for a child’s welfare,” underscored the challenges in criminally prosecuting officers for missteps in a crisis. Before Peterson’s trial, Eiglarsh told The Post that Peterson was “not a caregiver.”
But critics such as David Hogg, a Parkland shooting survivor and activist, were infuriated with Thursday’s verdict. Hogg tweeted that Peterson “wasn’t a good guy with a gun, he was a coward with a gun.” And parents whose sons and daughters died emphasized that their truth is that Peterson should have done more.
Lori Alhadeff – a member of the Broward County School Board whose 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was among the victims – found out about the verdict while she was in Greece. Alhadeff said that while she was not surprised Peterson was acquitted, she remained devastated by the repercussions and said it made schools less safe.
“We’re giving school resource officers the option of whether they go inside during a school shooting, and now they have that pass,” Alhadeff said. “This jury had the opportunity to take a stand and set a precedent moving forward, and unfortunately, they failed today.”
Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son, Alex, was among those murdered, was presenting at the National Association of School Resource Officers’ annual conference in Indianapolis when he got messages on his phone about the acquittal.
“I had just finished doing training about the failures that led up to the shooting in Parkland and the failed response from Scot Peterson that day,” Schachter said. “I’m hoping this never happens again.”
Speaking to reporters afterward, Peterson emphasized that the only person to blame for the 2018 massacre was Cruz, who he only referred to as “that monster,” and that “we did the best we could with the information we had.” Peterson and his wife, Lydia, said they wanted to talk to the families of the victims who feel that he’s partially to blame for what happened on Valentine’s Day of 2018.
“If they need to know the truth of what occurred, I’m there for them,” he said. “I know maybe that’s not what they’re feeling at this point, but I’ll be there for them.”
Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter, Gina, was among the victims, shook his head in the back of the courtroom as Peterson cried tears of joy each time the judge read the jury’s decision on all counts. He told The Post that the acquittal in court would never “absolve him of what he failed to do that day.”
“If he finds a way to bring me my daughter back, I’ll be happy to talk to him,” Montalto said. “If he can’t, he needs to live with the fact that his failures helped cause that.”
(c) 2023, The Washington Post · Timothy Bella
Corrupt jury.