Elizabeth Scherer is the former Broward County circuit judge who presided over the penalty trial of the Parkland school shooter and sentenced him to 34 consecutive life terms without parole in November 2022. Months later, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously reprimanded her for conduct during the trial, and she resigned from the bench effective June 30, 2023. She now practices commercial litigation at her father’s Fort Lauderdale firm.
Who Elizabeth Scherer Is
Scherer graduated from Florida State University and earned her law degree at the University of Miami. She spent eleven years as a prosecutor in the Broward County State Attorney’s Office under longtime State Attorney Michael J. Satz before then-Governor Rick Scott appointed her to the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in 2012. She ran unopposed for a six-year term in 2020.
She comes from a well-known Broward legal family. Her father, William R. “Bill” Scherer Jr., founded the firm Conrad & Scherer, where she now works as a partner alongside her brother William R. Scherer III and John Scherer.
How She Was Assigned the Parkland Case
Broward County’s computerized case-assignment system randomly placed the prosecution of the February 14, 2018 shooting on Scherer’s docket. The defendant pleaded guilty in October 2021 to all 17 counts of first-degree murder, so the trial that opened in July 2022 was solely a penalty proceeding: death, or life without parole.
Her Conduct During the Penalty Trial
The penalty phase ran from July 6 to October 13, 2022. Two moments in particular drew the scrutiny that later followed Scherer off the bench.
The Blowup When the Defense Rested Early
On September 14, 2022, the defense abruptly rested after calling roughly 25 of the 80 witnesses it had signaled. Prosecutors were unprepared to begin rebuttal. Scherer, visibly angry, told lead assistant public defender Melisa McNeill it was “the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case” and said she had “never experienced such a level of unprofessionalism” in her career. She accused the defense of treating the proceedings “as if it is some kind of game.” When McNeill objected that the judge was “insulting me on the record in front of my client,” Scherer replied: “You’ve been insulting me the entire trial, blatantly. So, quite frankly, this has been long overdue.”
Two days later the Broward Public Defender’s Office moved to disqualify her, alleging “longstanding animosity” toward McNeill. The motion did not succeed and Scherer stayed on the case.
The Sentencing Hearing
The jury voted 9-3 for death on October 13, 2022. Because Florida law then required a unanimous recommendation, the sentence defaulted to life without parole.
At the two-day sentencing hearing that began November 1, 2022, Scherer allowed all 17 victims’ families and survivors to address the defendant directly. Defense attorneys objected that some statements attacked the defense team; Scherer overruled them. After lunch, Chief Assistant Public Defender David Wheeler said the judge might feel differently about the tone if the statements were directed at her own children. Scherer treated the remark as a threat, ordered Wheeler away from the defense table, and told him his comment “violated about every rule of professional responsibility.” Investigators later concluded she had wrongly accused him of threatening her child.
On November 2, 2022, she imposed the 34 consecutive life sentences. Still in her judicial robe, she then stepped off the bench and embraced members of the prosecution and victims’ families in the courtroom. She later told investigators she had offered a similar gesture to the defense team and been refused.
The Hug That Led to a Disqualification
One of the prosecutors Scherer embraced, Assistant State Attorney Steven Klinger, was also handling the post-conviction case of death row inmate Randy Tundidor before her. Two days after the Parkland sentencing, during a status hearing in Tundidor’s case, Scherer asked Klinger how he was doing and, per the court record, “commiserated” with him about the verdict.
Tundidor’s lawyers moved to disqualify her. On April 13, 2023, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously granted the motion in Tundidor v. State of Florida (Case No. SC2022-1732), holding that the hug combined with the follow-up exchange would leave a “reasonably prudent person” with a “well-founded fear of not receiving a fair and impartial proceeding.” The case was reassigned.
The Florida Supreme Court’s Public Reprimand
The Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission opened a separate investigation into Scherer’s conduct during the Cruz trial and issued formal charges on June 2, 2023. It found that she:
- “unduly chastised” McNeill and her team and failed to treat them with the “patience, dignity, and courtesy” expected of a judge;
- wrongly accused a defense attorney of threatening her child;
- failed to curtail “vitriolic statements” directed at defense counsel during the sentencing hearing;
- improperly embraced members of the prosecution in the courtroom; and
- demonstrated, taken together, an “appearance of partiality to the prosecution.”
The commission concluded that Scherer “allowed her emotions to overcome her judgment” and found she had violated seven canons of Florida’s Code of Judicial Conduct: Canons 1, 2A, 3B(2), 3B(3), 3B(4), 3B(5), and 3B(9). Scherer did not contest the findings. She acknowledged that her conduct “at times fell short of the high standards of conduct expected of Florida judges” and agreed to a public reprimand.
On July 24, 2023, the Florida Supreme Court issued a unanimous order in Case No. SC2023-0817 accepting the stipulation. The order stated that “respondent shall receive a public reprimand, which will be accomplished by publication of this order.”
Resignation and What She’s Doing Now
Scherer submitted her resignation to Governor Ron DeSantis on May 10, 2023, effective June 30, 2023. She said the decision was unrelated to the Parkland criticism and that she had decided before the trial began to step down at its conclusion. Chief Judge Jack Tutor of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit confirmed she had told him the previous year she would be leaving the bench.
She joined Conrad & Scherer as a partner, focusing on commercial litigation, high-stakes tort claims, and professional liability. She also works as a legal analyst providing media commentary on high-profile trials.
Speaking to law students at Florida International University on October 17, 2024, Scherer criticized the defense team, saying McNeill and her attorneys “lost their minds” and “lost their perspective.” She accused them of passing notes, talking, using a printer, and brushing their hair during prosecution testimony, and alleged that one defense attorney raised a middle finger at a courtroom camera during a recess. Of the Judicial Qualifications Commission members who investigated her, she said: “Not one person on that commission has ever tried a case like this.” She said she regretted the perception created by hugging prosecutors and families but believed she had done a good job overseeing the trial. Broward County Public Defender Gordon Weekes declined to comment.
How the Parkland Verdict Changed Florida Law
The 9-3 jury vote drove a change in state law that outlived Scherer’s tenure. In April 2023, Governor DeSantis signed Senate Bill 450, eliminating the unanimous-jury requirement for a death recommendation. A death sentence can now be imposed if at least eight of twelve jurors recommend it. Judges may still impose life over a death recommendation but must explain the decision in writing. The change applies only to sentencing; the guilt phase still requires a unanimous verdict.
At the signing, DeSantis said: “I’m proud to sign legislation that will prevent families from having to endure what the Parkland families have and ensure proper justice will be served in the state of Florida.” State Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, whose district includes Parkland, had called the Cruz verdict a “horrific miscarriage of justice.”