The Florida Bar has initiated a pending investigation against a Broward County public defender who recently represented Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz.
Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced Cruz to life in prison Wednesday for killing 17 people, including 14 students and three staff members, and attempting to murder 17 others on Feb. 14, 2018.
During a July 12 court proceeding, as cameras were adjusting angles and zoom settings, assistant public defender Tamara Curtis appeared to flip off the cameras by scratching her cheek with a blatant middle finger.
She and the shooter, who pleaded guilty to murdering 17 people on Valentine’s Day in 2018, laughed about it.
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Tamara Curtis flips off a camera in a Broward County courtroom during a July hearing for Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz.
(POOL camera)
It is unclear whether that moment is part of the Florida Bar’s pending investigation, which the Bar confirmed to Fox News Digital on Friday but did not share any other details about the potential investigation.
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Tamara Curtis and Nikolas Cruz appeared to laugh about the middle finger moment in court.
(Pool camera)
The complainant of an investigation and other documents are not made public, Florida Bar Communications Director Jennifer Krell Davis said.
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It is unclear exactly why the Florida Bar is investigating Curtis.
(Pool camera)
During Wednesday’s sentencing, multiple parents voiced complaints about the defense team’s conduct over the course of Cruz’s lengthy trial, which began July 18.
Fred Guttenberg, who lost his daughter in the shooting, called Curtis an “immature punk child.”
Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz in 2021 pleaded guilty to killing 17 people in 2018.
(Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP)
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“Looking at Tamara Curtis take her middle finger rub it up and down her cheek when she lost an argument in the courtroom and then just start laughing with the killer over it like an immature punk child — I will never ever, ever forgive that moment, but that’s who they were,” he told reporters after the conclusion of Wednesday’s hearing.
Victims of the 2018 mass shooting include Alyssa Alhadeff, 14, Scott Beigel, 35, Martin Duque, 14, Nicholas Dworet, 17, Aaron Feis, 37, Jaime Guttenberg, 14, Chris Hixon, 49, Luke Hoyer, 15, Cara Loughran, 14, Gina Montalto, 14, Joaquin Oliver, 17, Alaina Petty, 14, Meadow Pollack, 18, Helena Ramsay, 17, Alex Schachter, 14, Carmen Schentrup, 16, and Peter Wang, 15.
Fox News’ Greg Norman and Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
