Judge won’t delay Florida school shooting sentencing trial

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida judge has refused to delay the sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz in the 2018 shooting at a high school in which 17 people were killed. Cruz’s lawyers had argued that recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, unleashed “a wave of emotion” nationally that could bias the just-seated jury against him and that the July 18 scheduled start is too soon. But Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said in a ruling dated Thursday that the lengthy process of seating a jury did not reveal any problems related to recent massacres. Cruz pleaded guilty to the murders in October. The jury will only consider whether or not to impose the death penalty.