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(HOMESTEAD, Fla.) — Four Florida correctional officers were arrested on murder charges for allegedly beating an inmate to death, authorities said.

Christopher Rolon, 29, Kirk Walton, 34, and Ronald Connor, 24, were arrested Thursday following a monthslong investigation of the fatal incident at the Dade Correctional Institution in Miami-Dade County, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

A fourth officer, 28-year-old Jeremy Godbolt, was arrested by the LAX Airport Police at the Los Angeles International Airport earlier Friday, the agency said.

They all face multiple charges, including second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, aggravated battery on an elderly or disabled person and cruel treatment of a detainee, officials said.

“Today is a day of accountability,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, whose office is prosecuting the case, told reporters during a briefing Friday.

Inmates “should not be subject to forms of ‘back alley’ justice, which are actions that violation Florida law,” she said.

The incident occurred on the morning of Feb. 14, before the inmate, Ronald Gene Ingram, was scheduled to be transferred to a correctional facility in Lake County, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which led the investigation into the death along with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

After Ingram reportedly threw urine on an officer, he was placed in handcuffs and removed from his cell in the mental health unit, at which point the officers “began to beat him,” the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in a statement.

“The inmate was beaten so badly he had to be carried to the transport van,” the agency said.

Rundle said that a witness recalled hearing another officer say that Ingram, who was serving a life sentence for murder, “would never throw urine on another correctional officer again.”

Prosecutors displayed surveillance footage on Friday that they said reveals the moments before and after the beating. Cameras inside the Dade Correctional Facility captured officers escorting Ingram from his cell to the transport van, with Ingram appearing to walk under his own power, prosecutors said.

Footage from exterior cameras minutes later then reveal the officers escorting Ingram, whose legs are dragging and head is slumped, into the van that would transfer him to another facility, prosecutors said.

According to Rundle, the officers beat Ingram sometime in between the moments captured on camera.

“We believe that the [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] investigation has developed sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ingram was beaten out of the line of sight of the institution, where there were no surveillance cameras,” she said.

Ingram was placed in a compartment of the van alone. During a stop in Ocala, an over 300-mile drive from Dade Correctional Institution, he was found dead, authorities said.

The inmate’s death was caused by a punctured lung leading to internal bleeding, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He also had injuries to his face and torso “consistent with a beating,” the agency said.

The incident initially led the Florida Department of Corrections to place 10 officers on administrative leave. One officer also resigned over it, the department said.

“What happened in this case is completely unacceptable and is not a representation of our system or of Dade Correctional Institution as a whole,” Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon said in a statement Thursday. “The staff involved in this case failed, and as an agency we will not stand for this.”

During the first court appearance for Rolon, Walton and Connor on Friday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer determined there was probable cause to hold them without bond.

Walton’s attorney, David Donet argued during the hearing that there wasn’t any proof that the officer caused serious bodily injury to Ingram.

Rolon’s attorney, Edward Martinez, told a local station following the hearing that “up until now he is innocent until the state can prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.”

ABC News has reached out to Connor’s attorney for comment.

It is unclear if the fourth officer arrested, Godbolt, has an attorney.

ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Backlash erupted this week against New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine in response to reports the school is in discussions to hire Dr. David Sabatini, a biologist who is facing accusations of sexual harassment.

Sabatini resigned from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology earlier this month after a review by his department head, the dean of science and the provost recommended his tenure be revoked due to his violation of MIT’s policy on consensual relationships, according to a letter MIT President L. Rafael Reif sent to faculty.

“The reviewers found Professor Sabatini engaged in a sexual relationship with a person over whom he held a career-influencing role, he did not disclose the relationship at any time to his supervisors, and he failed to take any steps to relinquish his mentoring and career-influencing roles, as the policy requires,” Reif said in the letter.

“The Committee also had significant concerns regarding his unprofessional behavior toward some lab members,” the letter added.

Members of the NYU community, including its union for graduate workers, a group for women in STEM and a group of STEM researchers planning on forming a union organized a protest against Sabatini’s hiring on Wednesday.

Downtown at NYU but still want to join the protest tomorrow? Nyu students are walking out at 1:15 to join our colleagues uptown at Langone. Meet in front of @nyusilver to take the subway to the 2pm protest. @nyustudentgov @nyuydsa @nyuresearchers pic.twitter.com/lDylJMmnqk

— NYU GSOC|UAW (@GSOCUAW) April 26, 2022

The groups also started a petition which had gathered over 300 signatures by Thursday afternoon.

“To hire David Sabatini as a faculty member is to put his work above the safety of the women in NYU’s community. It is additionally completely hypocritical to the DEI efforts that NYU have made in the past two years,” the petition reads.

“We, the undersigned, collectively condemn NYU for the immense harm already done by even considering Sabatini’s employment,” the petition added.

Signatories also pledged that until Sabatini is removed from consideration, they will not give or attend any talks, seminars, conferences or symposia hosted by NYU Langone Health, the academic medical center that comprises the school of medicine. They also vowed not to teach any courses at NYU Langone or collaborate with any labs at NYU Langone.

News that Sabatini may be hired by NYU was first reported on science.org, which also reports that Sabatini has been forced out of or fired from three leading institutions for sexual harassment or for violating workplace or consensual sexual relationship policies.

In response to the allegations made at MIT, Sabatini told ABC News, “Although I have taken full responsibility for having had a consensual personal relationship with a professional colleague, the outcome thus far has been out of all proportion to the actual, underlying facts. As I have maintained consistently from the start, I differ sharply with the way this matter has been characterized and I intend to set the record straight and stand up for my integrity.”

In an email sent to staff last August, Dr. Ruth Lehmann, the director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, a nonprofit research lab affiliated with MIT, said an investigation by an outside firm found that Sabatini violated the institute’s policy on sexual harassment and other policies related to research misconduct, according to science.org.

Sabatini is suing the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Lehmann, and the woman who accused him of sexually harassing her. Sabatini claims he was in a consensual relationship with the accuser.

Among the claims Sabatini made in the lawsuit filed in October was that the investigation Whitehead conducted was a “sham” and was flawed.

He also alleged that claims made by the woman that he was sexually harassing her are “fabricated” and that his relationship with the woman was consensual. Sabatini also accused the woman of being “determined to destroy” him, he alleged in the lawsuit.

Sabatini claimed the woman and her attorney pressed Lehmann and Whitehead to conclude that Sabatini engaged in misconduct and terminate him on that basis.

In a countersuit, the woman accusing Sabatini of harassment said he “coerced” her into having sex with him while she was a graduate student and “committed assault and battery on [her] when he coerced her into having sex with him despite her protests.”

The woman also alleged in the suit that Sabatini created a work environment where to get ahead and gain his approval, undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows were to “indulge a highly sexualized lab environment.”

The woman alleged that more than once, when women joined the lab, “Sabatini tried to engage them in unwelcomed discussions about their private, sexual lives and he groomed them, exploring just how far he could go with those under his authority,” in the suit. Those who do not participate were either cast aside or “embarrassed until they, at least, played along,” the countersuit alleges.

She said she suffered financial losses, reputational harm, pain and suffering and emotional distress due to Sabatini’s retaliatory behavior against her claims.

Sabatini allegedly interfered with the investigation “as reflected in ‘numerous’ reports from those interviewed, resulting in investigators’ making ‘negative credibility determinations about … Sabatini and support [of] another finding of misconduct,” lawyers representing the woman told ABC News in a statement, citing the investigation’s findings.

Lawyers for Whitehead and Lehmann claimed, in a court filing, that Sabatini’s lawsuit was a “direct attack” on what was then a pending investigation at MIT.

Whitehead in the filing, said the investigation, conducted by the law firm Hinckley, Allen, was initiated after it received “concerning information” in an anonymous survey. Whitehead also noted that there were claims by other men and women who raised concerns about his conduct and the environment of his laboratory to independent investigators.

Sabatini said the NYU community’s concern is based on a misunderstanding.

“The concern is based on a misunderstanding of what happened in Boston regarding a romantic relationship I had with a 30-year-old principal investigator who had her own separate lab,” Sabatini said

He added, “Female students and scientists deserve support and a lab environment free from inappropriate conduct, which I firmly believe I provided.  I only want a fair assessment of the facts of the situation and to get back to work.”

Sabatini said he understands the NYU community’s concern over his hiring.

“I have mentored dozens of women who succeeded professionally and personally. I understand how upset many in the NYU community who have not heard all of the facts are about the possibility that I might join the faculty there,” Sabatini said.

NYU Langone said Thursday that it has not yet come to a decision on whether it will offer Sabatini a position.

“We are taking a thorough look at the full set of facts and circumstances involving his tenure and departure from MIT,” NYU Langone said in a statement.

NYU Langone said accomplished and upstanding scientists who worked with Sabatini for years have given a different account of what happened at MIT.

“A main reason for that examination is that, by all accounts, there were many pertinent aspects of the matter that were never publicly disclosed. For example, we have heard directly from dozens of Dr. Sabatini’s peers and colleagues describing a first-hand view that is starkly at odds with the investigation and its outcome,” NYU Langone said.

It added, “The investigation itself is now the subject of litigation, which details a variety of alleged procedural flaws.”

NYU Langone also said it would take into consideration protests from the community over his potential hiring.

“We do not wish to dismiss anyone’s viewpoint and indeed the feedback from our community that we have sought out and are hearing is being thoughtfully included in our considerations. We would never make any hiring if we thought it would place our personnel at any risk or compromise in any way our commitment to hiring people of the highest integrity and professionalism,” NYU Langone said.

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(NEW YORK) — Three Bureau of Prisons employees at United States Penitentiary Thompson in Illinois have had to go to the hospital over the past two weeks, according to the local union president, prompting two members of Congress to write a letter to the agency questioning how mail for prisoners is processed.

“We write with concern about reports of unsafe conditions for correctional officers in opening mail for incarcerated persons,” the letter written by Rep. Cherri Bustos, D-Ill., and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ili., and obtained by ABC News, said.

“We know that it is critical for incarcerated persons to have access to correspondence while serving their sentences. Unfortunately, mail is also one of the ways in which drug contraband can be brought into correctional facilities,” the lawmakers wrote.

One staff member was hospitalized on Friday. The drug involved and the officer’s condition are unknown.

On March 17, a corrections officer was sorting mail and 19 pieces of mail were soaked in amphetamines, according to USP Thompson Union President Jon Zumkehr.

The staff member started “throwing up and having a violent reaction and was rushed to medical — his vitals were off the chart,” Zumkehr said.

A day later, another staff member was rushed to the hospital after being exposed to synthetic marijuana, he said.

In 2020, the Bureau of Prisons started a pilot program to convert mail to electronic scans at some facilities, to combat drug smuggling through official correspondence, according to the two lawmakers.

Zumkehr said the program was ended due to funding concerns.

“Staff shouldn’t have a price tag on their life,” he said.

Shane Fausey, president of the National Council of Prison Locals 33 told ABC News the substances officers are dealing with, including fentanyl, are both very dangerous and prevalent.

“It’s a matter of safety. It’s a matter of when you deal with substances like fentanyl, car fentanyl, they’re so hazardous a minuscule amount is going to kill someone if we don’t somehow stop it from entering our prisons,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement to ABC News it would respond directly to members of Congress and their staff.

“Out of respect and deference to Members, we do not share our Congressional correspondence with media,” it said.

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(NEW YORK) — Trevor Reed’s family said President Joe Biden may have saved their son’s life, doing everything he could to bring Reed home, in their first interview since seeing their son on U.S. soil.

“Ultimately it was President Biden,” Joey Reed, Trevor Reed’s father, said in an interview Friday on Good Morning America. “We’ve said all along if we could just speak to the man, we think he would make this happen and that’s exactly what happened. He did everything that we had said he would do and it’s amazing and we can’t thank him enough.”

He added, “We believe he may have saved Trevor’s life.”

Reed, a former Marine from Texas, was released from Russian prison on Wednesday as part of an international prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia. He had been held in Russia since 2019.

Trevor Reed’s family said they met with him on Thursday for a few hours. His mother, Paula Reed, said it was the first time they got to hug him, saying “it was heaven.”

The Reeds said they received a phone call early Thursday morning from Roger Carsten, the presidential envoy on hostage affairs, who handed the phone to Trevor Reed, who was on a plane headed to the U.S.

Reed was arrested in Russia, while on a trip visiting his girlfriend, after Russian authorities alleged he grabbed the wheel of a police car and assaulted a police officer while drunk.

Reed denied the allegations and maintained his innocence. A year later he was sentenced to nine years in prison. After several appeals he was moved from a Moscow prison to a remote prison colony.

Reed was exchanged for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, a convicted drug trafficker.

Reed’s parents said their son has a long road to recovery, in an interview with ABC News’ David Muir on Wednesday.

He is currently in a medical facility receiving care, but his family did not have a complete update on his health on Friday.

“We don’t really have a whole lot of answers yet. He’s getting testing done. He is at a top-notch medical facility and getting great care so we’re excited about that but we won’t really know more for a few days,” Paula Reed said.

The Reeds lobbied for years for the U.S. to negotiate for their son’s release, even personally pleading with Biden.

Other Americans, including Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner, are still being held in Russia.

“Our hearts go out to them and we can only imagine how disappointed they are that their loved ones didn’t get to come home,” Paula Reed said.

She added that Whelan’s release was the first thing her son brought up when the family spoke.

“He said he didn’t feel well and we said, ‘Do you mean physically?’ He said, ‘No, mom. I feel terrible that Paul still there and I’m here.’ And he said when I get better, I’m going to start advocating for them to bring Paul home right away,'” Paula Reed said.

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(MIAMI) — Three Florida correctional officers were arrested on murder charges for allegedly beating an inmate to death, while a fourth remains at large, authorities said Thursday.

Christopher Rolon, 29, Kirk Walton, 34, and Ronald Connor, 24, were arrested Thursday following a monthslong investigation of the fatal incident at the Dade Correctional Institution in Miami-Dade County, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

They were arrested on multiple charges, including second-degree murder, conspiracy, aggravated battery of an elderly adult and cruel treatment of a detainee, jail records show. Attorney information was not immediately available.

Additional information on the fourth correctional officer being sought by law enforcement was not provided.

The incident occurred on the morning of Feb. 14, before the inmate was scheduled to be transferred to a correctional facility in Lake County, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which led the investigation into the death along with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

After the inmate reportedly threw urine on an officer, he was placed in handcuffs and removed from his cell in the mental health unit, at which point the officers “began to beat him,” the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in a statement.

“The inmate was beaten so badly he had to be carried to the transport van,” the agency said.

The inmate, whose name was not released by the agency, was placed in a compartment of the van alone. During a stop in Ocala, an over 300-mile drive from Dade Correctional Institution, he was found dead, authorities said.

The inmate’s death was caused by a punctured lung leading to internal bleeding, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He also had injuries to his face and torso “consistent with a beating,” the agency said.

The incident initially led the Florida Department of Corrections to place 10 officers on administrative leave. One officer also resigned over it, the department said.

“What happened in this case is completely unacceptable and is not a representation of our system or of Dade Correctional Institution as a whole,” Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon said in a statement Thursday. “The staff involved in this case failed, and as an agency we will not stand for this.”

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, is holding a press briefing Friday afternoon with the Florida Department of Corrections and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to share further details on the criminal charges.

“Staff misconduct, abuse or criminal behavior have no place in Florida’s correctional system,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. “Inmates should not be subject to forms of ‘back alley’ justice which are actions in violation of Florida law.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit on Thursday against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

It is seeking $3 million in fines and penalties over Manafort’s alleged failure to file reports disclosing more than 20 offshore bank accounts he controlled in Cyprus, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the U.K. between 2006 and 2014.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, notes that the Treasury Department previously sent him a notice of its assessment of the penalties in July of 2020.

He was pardoned by former President Donald Trump five months later in December of 2020 for his tax fraud, conspiracy and obstruction convictions stemming from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The DOJ’s lawsuit indicates that prosecutors don’t believe Trump’s pardon of Manafort encompasses his failure to file Foreign Bank Account reports in 2013 and 2014.

ABC News has reached out to an attorney for Manafort for comment.

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(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — A Black woman was finally named valedictorian at her Illinois high school nearly four decades after her graduation.

Tracey Meares, a law professor at Yale University, was a star student at Springfield High School in Springfield, Illinois. But when she graduated in 1984, she was not awarded the title of valedictorian despite having the highest academic ranking in her class, she said. Her story is now the subject of a new documentary, “No Title for Tracey.”

Meares would have been the first Black female valedictorian in the school’s history, but she was not awarded the title. Instead, the school did away with the valedictorian and salutatorian titles that year and Meares was recognized with a group as “top students.” The school went back to official titles in 1992.

“As a 17-year-old, achieving something like being valedictorian is probably the biggest thing…It was incredibly disappointing,” Meares told “Good Morning America.”

Meares said the snub was “very confusing” at first but she later processed the great lengths the school went to to deny her the title.

“I didn’t talk about it ever…Many of my best friends that I have known since I was an adult have asked me why I never told and I didn’t want to talk about it. It was terrible. It was really hard,” she reflected.

Meares went on to study engineering at the University of Illinois and then attended the University of Chicago Law School.

This year, her sister, Dr. Nicole Florence, a first-time filmmaker, turned Meares’ story into a documentary to spotlight the impact of structural racism.

On April 16, after a screening of the documentary in her hometown, Springfield Public Schools District 186 Superintendent Jennifer Gill presented Meares with the valedictorian medal — a surprise to Meares.

“I felt some pride and happiness that my parents who are sitting in the front row could see this happening because they were denied that 30 years ago,” Meares said. “I felt sadness that my grandparents weren’t there.”

Gill said she was “happy” to meet Meares and right this wrong.

“When we know better, we do better. By meeting Tracey and hearing about her lived experience, we know that honoring her with this title means so much more,” Gill told “GMA.” “We want every student to have a feeling of belonging in all aspects of school and a sense of becoming as they leave our schools with a plan for college and career. It is our responsibility to ensure that our system supports students in reaching their full potential. We have seen that high school experiences can have a profound, lifelong impact.”

“It was an honor to have Tracey here and a privilege to learn from such an accomplished alumna,” she added.

The recognition 38 years later is a gesture that Meares says she appreciates.

“Institutionally, there are people who are making an effort to to acknowledge that people are thinking wrong. That was harmful. And it wasn’t harmful, just to me as an individual. It was harmful to the community,” she said. “The thing to take away is for people to understand the ways in which discrimination can operate at a disproportionate rate at a structural level and that its downstream effects are enduring.”

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(NEW YORK) — Police arrived at a home in Selkirk, New York, just before 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2020 to find a husband and wife dead. Bhupinder Saran, 58, killed his wife, Sarbjit Saran, 58, and then took his own life, police said.

It was not the first time police had been to the home. A year earlier, officers were called to a domestic violence incident, and there had been an order of protection against the husband.

On Thursday, New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang revealed that Sarbjit Saran had informed her employer, the state’s information technology office, of the trouble at home, but she received no help — a violation of state domestic violence policies.

“When she reached out for help, it fell on deaf ears,” Lang said during a news conference in Albany.

“This investigation found that despite ITS’ awareness that its employee had reported that she was a victim of domestic violence, ITS did not follow its Domestic Violence and the Workplace Policy in a manner that was responsive to her needs as a victim or that promoted workplace safety,” the inspector general’s report said.

Incidents of violence, sexual violence and stalking increased in New York during the pandemic, when calls to the state’s domestic and sexual violence hotline increased 45%.

Lang called Sarbjit Saran’s death “an utter tragedy” and said she should have been able to count on her employer.

“She gave 30 years of her life to the state,” Lang said. “So much of what happened here is that warning signs were disregarded, and that is a failure of education, a failure of training and a reason why domestic violence has for years existed outside the public sphere.”

Lang announced her office would audit every state agency to make sure they understand their obligations when an employee mentions being the victim of violence by an intimate partner.

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(NEW YORK) — Federal agents improperly questioned alleged New York City subway shooter Frank James this week, directed him to sign certain documents and took multiple swabs of his DNA, defense attorneys said in a court filing Thursday.

James, 62, allegedly set off a smoke grenade on a Manhattan-bound N train approaching 36th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, before opening fire and shooting 10 people in what police called the worst disruption to the commute in New York since the Sept. 11 attacks.

On Tuesday, without alerting his lawyers, FBI agents entered his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn “questioned him, took multiple buccal swabs of his DNA, and directed him to sign certain documents,” according to a letter to the court from Mia Eisner-Grynberg and Deirdre von Dornum of the Federal Defenders of New York.

“Contrary to standard practice, the government committed this intrusion absent advance notice to counsel, depriving us of an opportunity to be heard or to be present. Neither did the government provide subsequent notice to counsel. The agents did not provide Mr. James with a copy of the warrant or a receipt, in violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure,” the letter said.

The attorneys said the government failed to explain why it deviated from standard procedure and only provided a copy of a search warrant when the attorneys asked after the fact. They accused the government of violating James’ constitutional rights.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which has charged James with one terror-related count, declined to comment.

Prosecutors were given until early next week to respond.

The defense attorneys said they would seek to suppress whatever statements James made to the agents this past Tuesday and asked the judge to order the government to turn over a copy of the affidavit that served as the basis for the search.

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(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — Jury selection in the death penalty case of confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz lapsed into disarray after potential jurors allegedly mouthed expletives and threats to the defendant in the courtroom and the presiding judge admitted committing a legal error that nearly derailed the process.

Just days after Judge Elizabeth Scherer granted a motion by prosecutors to scrap jury selection in the high profile case and start from scratch, she reversed her order on Wednesday upon hearing a counter argument from Cruz’s lawyers. The case began on April 4 in Broward County, Florida.

Scherer admitted that she made an error back on April 5, the second day of jury selection, when she asked would-be jurors if they could follow the law if picked to serve on the case and then dismissed 11 who said they could not.

David Weinstein, a former federal and state prosecutor in Florida, told ABC News on Thursday that Scherer made a mistake by asking the question. He said her inquiries in the initial phase of jury selection should have been limited to questions about whether the potential jurors had a hardship that prevented them from serving on the case, which is expected to last four to six months.

“That was all that they were supposed to be inquiring into,” said Weinstein, who is not involved in the case but is following it closely.

He said the more probing questions like the one the judge asked should have been reserved for the voir dire phase of jury selection, when prosecutors and defense attorneys are given the chance to grill jury candidates on their answers.

“Each side is given the opportunity to rehabilitate you, to ask, ‘When you said you couldn’t follow the law, did you really understand what the judge was asking you? What do you mean you can’t follow the law?'” Weinstein said.

Defense attorneys filed a motion accusing the court of committing double jeopardy and asked that the death penalty phase of the case be declared a mistrial and that Cruz be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

To remedy her mistake, Scherer reversed her earlier ruling and ordered that the 11 jurors she dismissed to be summoned back to court on Monday so lawyers can question them about their answers.

In her earlier ruling, Scherer also said she was dismissing the 243 would-be jurors who had already been qualified for a pool to seat the jury from. That decision has also been reversed.

Scherer said 20 jurors, including eight alternates, will eventually be chosen to recommend whether the 23-year-old Cruz, who has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, will be sentenced to death or to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The judge’s mistake wasn’t the only controversy to erupt this week in the case.

On Tuesday, a potential juror disrupted the proceedings when he entered the courtroom and allegedly mouthed expletives and threats to Cruz, who was seated at the defense table. The outburst apparently inspired other would-be jurors in the courtroom to make similar threats to Cruz and prompted bailiffs to press Cruz against a wall to protect him.

Scherer described that particular group of jury candidates as “belligerent” and dismissed them all.

Cruz pleaded guilty in October to committing the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. During the hearing attended by loved ones of the 17 he killed, Cruz said he wished it was up to the survivors of the shooting to determine whether he lived or died.

“I’m very sorry for what I did,” Cruz said at his plea hearing. “I can’t live with myself sometimes.”

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