Lawyer: $500K Bond Excessive For Shooting Suspect's Brother, Wants Him Released
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A 17-page motion filed in court by Zachary Cruz's lawyer asks for his release from the Broward County Jail.
Zachary, the brother of confessed school shooter Nikolas Cruz, was arrested Monday for trespassing on school grounds at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
That's where Nikolas Cruz carried out a mass shooting killing 17 people last month.
Zachary's bond was first set at $25 but later increased to $500,000.
In the petition, Cruz's lawyer, Joseph Kimok, starts off by mentioning the, "Boston Massacre and the Salem Witch Trials and tar-and-feathering."
He writes, "The Framers of our Constitution were all too aware of the hysteria that often results from a crime that shocks the community's conscience."
He then cites the 8th amendment of the Constitution, which provides protection from excessive bail, fines and cruel and unusual punishment.
Kimok writes that, "A $500,000 bond for this second degree misdemeanor is unreasonable and outrageous."
He writes that Zachary "already paid the $25 bond that was first imposed on him.... Mr. Cruz was held in the jail an additional fifteen hours after he had already posted bond" and was then "brought to the First Appearance Court where an entirely new bond of $500,000 was set.
The original bond was not amended, revoked or increased. The State and the Court acted as though the original bond that had been posted did not exist."
He goes on to argue that, "There was no authority for the First Appearance Court to create an entirely new bond with entirely new bond conditions."
In court Tuesday prosecutors made their case for increasing the bond saying Cruz made concerning comments regarding his brother.
"He has been heard and observed discussing how popular his brother is now.
That is face is everywhere and that his name is national. There is discussion of starting some sort of pen pal or fan club," said assistant Broward State Attorney Sarahnell Murphy.
CBS4 News reached out to Kimok for an interview but we did not receive a response.
