Woman dismissed as prospective Nikolas Cruz juror over ‘sugar daddy’ claim
The prospective juror who was dismissed from the sentencing of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz after telling the judge she’s both married and has a “sugar daddy” said she would have missed out on $8,000 a month as a panelist.
The woman, identified as “Miss Bristol,” said that it would have been a financial “hardship” if she was picked for the jury, which will determine if Cruz receives the death penalty or life in prison.
“If I do this case for six months, I have a hardship that means my sugar daddy can’t support me,” she told WPLG on Saturday.
“It’s all day for six months and what’s my hardship? I need my sugar daddy money. I said to the judge, ‘I have a sugar daddy and I’m married and I have a husband,’ just like that,” Bristol said.
The woman last week shocked the courtroom when she explained to Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer why she should not be seated on the jury.
“I have my sugar daddy that I see every day,” the native New Yorker said, confusing the judge. “I’m married, and I have my sugar daddy. I see him every day.”
Meanwhile, jury selection plunged into chaos Monday when the judge dismissed an entire pool of prospective jurors after they broke down in the presence of Cruz, who has already pleaded guilty to murdering 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.
When Scherer asked one tearful woman if everything was OK, she told the judge that her 15-year-old son was a victim of gun violence, and she was allowed to leave the courtroom, WPLG reported.
More and more emotional potential jurors then began to leave the courtroom.
“The ladies and gentlemen that have been taken out so far are people that are just so upset that they can’t sit here without getting emotional and we don’t want to cause trauma for anyone. If you absolutely cannot sit here without breaking down or getting emotional, you can raise your hand,” Scherer said.
Before long, the remaining people on the panel of 60 were dismissed and another group of 14 was brought in.
Eventually, three people were chosen for the next phase of jury selection, bringing the total to 147 chosen from a pool of 629, NBC Miami reported.
Jury selection continues Tuesday and Wednesday, with the sentencing trial scheduled to begin May 31 and last through September, according to the outlet.
Cruz pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in connection with the massacre.
But the death-penalty trial was delayed after prosecutors said they needed more time to interview the mental health experts who are expected to testify on behalf of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School killer.
