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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Florida Bar is investigating one of the assistant public defenders who represented the Parkland school shooter during the recent penalty phase in Broward County.
According to attorney Jennifer Krell Davis, a spokeswoman for The Florida Bar, the investigation on Broward Assistant Public Defender Tamara Curtis was ongoing Thursday.
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Davis did not specify the subject of the investigation. Florida Bar records show Curtis became a member on April 14, 2004, and is a graduate of Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
Curtis wasn’t in court on Wednesday when Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced Nikolas Cruz to 34 consecutive mandatory life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole and remanded him to the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections.
The families of the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School victims got the last word during a two-day sentencing hearing that allowed them to express themselves with symbolic colors, the photographs of their loved ones on jewelry and signs — and from behind a podium.
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An emotionless Nikolas Cruz sat with a group of Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies behind him. He was next to Casey Secor, his capital defense attorney, and most of the members of the public defense team that fought to save his life and managed to convince three of the 12 jurors to do the same.
Some of the victims’ parents used their time behind the podium to condemn the defense’s effort to “humanize” “a monster, ” “a murderous bastard, ” and “an animal” and accused them of “putting up a show” to “manipulate” the jurors. The defense objected to the criticism.
“When these people are upset about specific things that have gone on from that table like shooting the middle finger up at this court and laughing and joking ... When these people have sat in this courtroom and watched this behavior from that table and they want to say that they are not happy about it, what is the problem?” Scherer told the defense.
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A livestream feed carried by the Law & Crime network back on July 12 during a pretrial hearing gained traction online. That moment, showed Curtis sitting next to Cruz and another attorney when they notice a media camera. Curtis waves to the camera and then moments later, appears to put up her middle finger at the camera while rubbing it against her cheek. She and Cruz then laugh.
This happened just after the defense was asking about camera placement in the courtroom – specifically about one camera right in front of the judge, pointing at the defense table. After the court went into recess, Scherer said she would remain in the courtroom to do some “busy work.” The moment happened minutes later during a recess.
“I did my job, and every member of this team did our job, and we should not personally be attacked for that, ” McNeill told Scherer.
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After the sentencing hearing ended, Scherer hugged the prosecutors. She also spent time with some of the victims’ parents, some of whom decided not to speak during the sentencing hearing.
Parkland sentencing hearing: US Navy flight officer was serving on coast of Iran when she lost her father-in-law Ines Maria Hixon said the U.S. Navy deployed her on a U.S. Aircraft carrier off the coast of Iran. The day her father-in-law Christopher Hixon died while trying to stop the Parkland school shooter, she said she was flying a military plane and didn’t get to check her e-mail.
Video shows heated exchange between judge, Parkland shooter’s defense An argument over whether or not the relatives of the victims should address the Parkland school shooter’s defense attorneys during the sentencing hearing prompted Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer to ask Broward Public Defender Gordon Weekes to sit down Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale.
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Grieving families let Parkland school shooter know they see he is ‘evil’ and criticize his defense The Parkland school shooter will have to listen to relatives of the victims killed in the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School speak for at least two days in Broward County court in Fort Lauderdale.
The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.The Florida Bar is conducting an investigation focused on one of the assistant public defenders who represented the Parkland school shooter in his recently-concluded trial, a spokesperson confirmed to NBC News.
Curtis was captured on camera this summer, prior to a pretrial hearing, rubbing her middle finger on her cheek in front of a court camera, before she and school shooter Nikolas Cruz, 24, laughed — a moment that the judge in the case and several family members of the victims later admonished the attorney for.
Assistant Public Defender Tamara Curtis Speaks Editorial Stock Photo
Tamara Curtis at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on July 6, 2022. Carline Jean / South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP file
Krell Davis, the Florida Bar spokesperson, did not reply to questions about what prompted the investigation into Curtis, when it was opened or its scope. She said that documents related to the investigation are not public while an investigation is ongoing.
News of the investigation, first reported by ABC affiliate WPLG of Miami on Thursday, follows the conclusion of an emotional three-month-long trial that culminated on Wednesday, when Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced the shooter to life in prison without parole for the 2018 massacre that killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
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The Florida Bar's lawyer discipline process begins when current or former clients, lawyers, judges, or others — which can include the Bar itself — submit a written inquiry regarding the conduct of a lawyer, according to its website, which notes that approximately 25% of inquiries result in the opening of a disciplinary file.
The Bar's rules of professional conduct note that lawyers should demonstrate respect for the legal system and for those who serve it.
According to her profile on the Florida Bar’s website, Curtis was admitted to the Bar in 2004 and has had no disciplinary infractions over the past decade. She attended law school at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.
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“The Florida Supreme Court is the final arbiter of discipline — an attorney being investigated doesn’t have a change to their practice status unless discipline is ordered by the Court, ” the spokesperson said.
Max Schachter, the father of Parkland victim 14-year-old Alex Schachter, shared the news of the investigation into Curtis on Twitter on Thursday along with the comment, KARMA PART 1.
During the victim impact statements they delivered in court on Tuesday and Wednesday, several family members admonished the defense team for their actions — including what one called the middle finger stunt — over the course of the trial.
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Following the first day's proceedings, on Tuesday, when public defender Gordon Weekes and chief assistant public defenders Melisa McNeill and David Wheeler asked Scherer to prevent the family members from directing comments to the defense attorneys personally, Fred Guttenberg, father of victim Jaime Guttenberg, 14, tweeted out the video of Curtis sticking up her middle finger.
This is Defense Attorney Tamara Curtis, in court, playing with the monster who murdered my daughter & rubbing her middle finger on her cheek, Guttenberg tweeted along with the video. @gordonweekes should have been focused on the behavior of his attorneys and not attacking our families today. We are right to be upset.
The next day in court, Guttenberg mentioned the incident in his victim impact statement, and said that one of the attorneys apologized in an email to victims' families for the middle finger stunt.
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You actually didn't apologize to us — you apologized that you didn't know the camera was on while you were doing that, that you got caught, Gutternberg said of the alleged email.
Manuel Oliver, father of victim Joaquin Oliver, 17, also mentioned the incident in his victim impact statement before raising his own middle finger to the defense table.
Scherer also condemned the defense team for Curtis's actions on the first day of the sentencing, after Wheeler echoed Weekes' and McNeill's requests that the judge intervene to prevent the families from directing their comments to the defense attorneys.
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When these people are upset about specific things that have gone on from that table, like shooting the middle finger up at this court, and laughing and joking ... when these people have sat in this courtroom and watched this behavior from that table and they want to say that they're not happy about it, what is the problem? Scherer asked Wheeler.
NBC South Florida reported that the shooter's defense team has received increased security following the sentencing due to concerns about public sentiment toward the attorneys following the trial and its outcome, which shocked and angered many of the victims' families who hoped for a death penalty verdict.
The president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which represents
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