Nikolas Cruz's Lawyer in Court: Burgundy Isn't Maroon

Attorneys for Florida high school shooter Nikolas Cruz told a judge Monday that detectives made false statements to get the search warrants allowing them to seize evidence from his cellphone and bedroom—arguing at one point that burgundy and maroon are not the same color. The attorneys want Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer to bar prosecutors from showing jurors the videos, photos, and messages found on his phone and items seized from the friend's home where he was living when he murdered 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. Cruz, 23, faces trial starting in January to determine if he will be executed or receive a life sentence without parole.

Assistant public defender Nawal Bashimam told Scherer that Broward County sheriff's detectives John Curcio and Walter Foster made false statements to the magistrate who granted the home and phone search warrants. Among what Bashimam detailed, per the AP:

• Bashimam said the detectives falsely claimed that security guard Andrew Medina had identified Cruz as the shooter. A transcript of the guard speaking to detectives shortly after the shooting show he could not immediately remember the name of the suspicious person he spotted entering campus, only that he was a troubled former student. Medina later remembered Cruz's name when reminded by another guard.
• The detectives wrote Medina heard gunshots after Cruz entered the building. Medina had said he heard “pow, pow, pow” numerous times, but only later said they were gunshots.
• They wrote Medina called a “code red,” but he never did. Bashimam pointed out that both detectives wrote that Medina said Cruz was wearing a maroon shirt, but he actually said the suspect's shirt was burgundy.

Both detectives said their statements were accurate paraphrases and not meant to be direct quotes. Curcio also pointed out that Cruz had confessed and that was included in the affidavits. At one point, Scherer stopped Bashimam, saying she thought burgundy and maroon were the same color. Bashimam argued that they are different but in any case, the detectives didn't use the word Medina used. Assistant state attorney Nicole Chiappone told Scherer that even if there were minor errors, they would not have changed the magistrate's findings of probable cause to issue the warrants. Scherer said she would rule later. (More Nikolas Cruz stories.)