When Zachary Cruz was
arrested for trespassing
Documents filed with the Broward County clerk show the bond was posted shortly afterward, but Cruz, 18, remained in custody until his first court appearance the next day — at which point Judge Kim Theresa Mollica, after arguments from prosecutors, raised his bond to $500,000.
Now, Cruz's attorney is arguing that the bond set by Mollica, when considered in context of the charge against him, is "so unreasonably high that it amounts to no bond at all."
Zachary Cruz is not Nikolas Cruz, Joseph Kimok wrote in a
motion
"There is no justice where the government seeks to hang a man for the crimes of his brother," he added. "It is immoral and reprehensible to attempt to punish Zachary Cruz for the sins of Nicholas. It is also unconstitutional."
Kimok also objected to several of Mollica's other pretrial conditions — including a mandated psychological evaluation, a search of his home for weapons, and orders preventing him from contact with his brother and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and employees.
Prosecutors, for their part, see the high bar for Cruz's release as warranted. In fact, at the bond hearing Tuesday, they had asked for it to be set at $750,000 — arguing that,
in the words of the Miami Herald,
In a separate case opened Tuesday, another judge granted the Broward County Sheriff's Department a temporary risk protection order against Zachary Cruz. The order, instituted
under a law
Zachary Cruz, who like his brother had been a student at the school himself, was found on school grounds after class had been dismissed Monday. Despite prior warnings from school officials, Detective Robert Rutkowski said in the police report, Cruz had "surpassed all locked doors and gates and proceeded to ride his skateboard through school grounds."
The reason he'd done so was to "reflect on the school shooting and to soak it in," Cruz explained at the time, according to Rutkowski.
The paper reports that at his bond hearing the next day, assistant Broward state attorney Sarahnell Murphy "explained that he had already been
Baker Acted
"He has all the same flags present as his brother," Murphy said at the hearing, according to the Herald.
As The Associated Press reports, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School has been on alert since it
resumed classes
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