Parkland mass shooter Nikolas Cruz is reportedly set to collect part of a $864,929 life insurance policy, making him ineligible to have defense attorneys from the Broward Public Defender’s Office. The Miami Herald reports that Cruz and his half-brother, Zachary Cruz, will share the proceeds of a MetLife life insurance policy. No further details were available on how much exactly Nikolas Cruz would get. Since the Defender’s Office can only defend “impoverished” clients, the office asked the court Wednesday to remove its lawyers from the case. “The defendant and... counsel were previously unaware of this entitlement,” Cruz's lawyers wrote in documents. “The Law Office of the Public Defender is statutorily prohibited from representing a non-indigent client.” While it is unclear whose life insurance is the source of Cruz's windfall, the shooter's adoptive mother died in November 2017. Cruz confessed to shooting up Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018, and he has since been indicted on 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 attempted murder counts. A not-guilty plea was submitted on Cruz's behalf, and a judge is reportedly considering a 2020 sentencing date for the 20-year-old.
