Nikolas Cruz, the accused Parkland shooter, was informed by his public defenders on Wednesday that they might drop him after they announced that he became a beneficiary of a nearly million-dollar insurance policy.
In this image made from a video, Zachary Cruz, left, reacts as he speaks with his brother Nikolas in a police interrogation room in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
But it is not certain that Cruz will ever see any of the insurance money or actually change his attorneys, according to Howard Finkelstein, the Broward County public defender, who is representing him. An attorney for one of the victims’ relatives wrote in an email Tuesday that they were considering their options in the case.
A judge in a civil case could freeze his assets, while a judge in the murder case could determine that Cruz is not indigent and needs other attorneys, Finkelstein said. Another possibility, he said, is that Cruz’s assets are frozen and the courts determine that Cruz remains indigent and retains his public defenders.
[‘Why did you do this?’ His brother confessed to gunning down 17 people in Parkland. But he's the only family Zach Cruz has left.] Cruz’s public defenders had offered to have him plead guilty in exchange for him being sentenced to life in prison without parole, but prosecutors say they are seeking the death penalty. Earlier this year, both sides said they expected the case to proceed to trial as soon as next year.Nikolas and Zachary share a biological mother, and were adopted by the Cruz family as infants. Their father, Roger Cruz, died of a heart attack in 2004, leaving their mother Lynda to raise the boys on her own.
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