Parkland trial erupts in shouting match between judge, attorney after defense abruptly rests

Just before jurors were supposed to walk into the courtroom Wednesday, defense attorneys for Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz abruptly rested their case. The move sparked outrage from Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, who berated them for their lack of professionalism — leading to a shouting match in court. Judge Scherer called the decision to rest without warning her or the prosecution “the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case.“ She then accused Cruz’s attorneys of being inconsiderate to all involved, but especially the jurors for wasting their trip to court. When lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill countered angrily, “You are insulting me on the record in front of my client,“ Scherer cut her off. “You’ve been insulting me the entire trial,“ Scherer retorted. “Blatantly taking your headphones off, arguing with me, storming out, coming late intentionally if you don’t like my rulings. So, quite frankly, this has been long overdue. So pleas