Law&Crime Sidebar - Parkland Massacre Survivor Battles Over Rights to Shooter's Name

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

Anthony Borges, a former Marjory Stoneman Douglas student, was shot five times during a school shooting. After Borges’ attorney secured him the rights to the shooter’s image, likeness, and story, other victims and families involved in the shooting cried foul. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber sat down with Florida criminal defense attorney Kaysia Earley to discuss the latest developments.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/lctakeover to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Tell us what happened. You're laying in the hallway and you were shot. How many times? You know how many times you were shot? At that time, I didn't know. I just felt like one shot. Right. But I got five times. Pardon? Five times. Five times?

Yes. Where were you shot? And my leg, my other leg in the back. And over here, and the RP. How many surgeries have you had? 14. Survivors of one of the most horrific school shootings this country has ever seen just wrapped up a unique court battle over what happens to the publicity rights connected to this massacre.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and court. presented by law and crime i'm jesse weber all right so we have an update for you on a story that we first brought you over the summer you might remember that in june we told you about just what is a stunning agreement between the parkland school shooter and one of his victims anthony borhess as we know in february twenty eighteen the shooter opened fire inside of his former high school marjorie ston douglas high school in parkland florida killed 17 people injured others he was ultimately charged with 17 counts of murder 17 counts of attempted murder. He wound up entering a guilty plea to all the charges. So the only

part of a trial that happened was the penalty phase. What should be his punishment, life in prison or the death penalty? In the end, after the jury heard all of this evidence, and it was a very, very difficult trial to sit through. The jury was split on the death penalty. So the shooter was given 34 consecutive life sentences, and he is never, ever getting out of prison. But several of the survivors from that awful day testified during the penalty phase. And one of those witnesses was former student Anthony Borges. He was shot multiple times, but miraculously, he survived. And he testified about what happened in 2018, and he even showed his scars to the jury. Tell us what happened, okay? So I was in the third floor on class personalization, 1250, I think.

and I was just sitting down, the teacher just planning about the finalist exams and stuff like that. So I was just chilling, sitting, listen to music, and then I hear something weird, like a scream and like some echo. So I turned off the music and then the alarm went on and then went off. And they went on again like two times. So everybody was confused. Everybody just got out of the class. There was, like, a lot of people on the highway. Then I decided to go down to the stairwell.

To the stairwell, that was when I saw the gun and just closed the door and start running. Okay. Then what did you do? Then he shot me on my left leg. And then I saw this door, like, half open. Then I closed it, and then I just lay down there. So then I got shot, everything got silent. I just looked myself, check up on me. I looked everything around me.

There was a person in front of me, there was another person on the other side. I talked to that person to reach out if it was okay or anything, and she didn't respond. That's when I stopped talking to her, I just reached out my phone. reach out my phone and I called my mom first. She didn't answer. I called my best friend. She didn't answer and then I call my dad. So I told her everything like goodbye and everything. I throw my phone because I didn't want to the shooter. She's looking at me with the phone and showed me again. So I just drove the phone. Okay. When you were on the phone,

where were you? I was outside the classroom. Were you standing? No. I was shut. I was laying down in the hallway. So you were laying in the hallway? Yes. Did you call for help or anything? I did call, yeah. Did you call in Spanish and English or just did? Both. Yes.

What were you yelling? Help. Help, help. Hey, so I want to take a quick minute to thank Upside for sponsoring today's Law and Crime YouTube Takeover. So Upside's awesome. It is a free app that gets you cashback on gas, groceries, food. This is real cashback. It's money that appears in your upside app that you can then transfer straight

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story over to Borges so that he could never do any interviews or get any public attention from his horrific crime. He can't profit or exploit this situation in any way, unless, of course, Borges gives him permission. And the shooter also agreed to give Borges his share of an annuity payment that was left for him by his mother, which is around $450,000. This was all part of settling a lawsuit that had been filed against the shooter. but here's where it gets complicated. Because an attorney who is representing other families of victims in this tragedy says, wait a minute, hold on, that's not right.

You've circumvented a deal that we already worked out. So it turns out attorney David Brill, who's representing other families of the shooting, had also spoken to the shooter himself. And apparently the shooter agreed to give these other families his intellectual property rights and the $450,000. Those families had planned to give 80% of that payment, the $450,000, over to charity, and they would block his ability to use his likeness in the future. But Borges' attorney, Alex Areza, says, Borges, he might need the money for future medical

expenses. So you see this dispute happening right here. And according to Brill, this move was all because of greed. He told NBC Miami in September, how dare they take for themselves the singular authority to decide whether and when to put. publish what about this tragedy, as if it's theirs and theirs alone? Now, we actually got our hands on some of the court paperwork in this case, including a motion to set aside the settlement agreement between Borges and the shooter and enforce the verbal agreement that would have

protected the other parties. And here's a little bit of background from that paperwork. It reads, each of the plaintiffs in the above-reference five cases in this consolidated action had a default judgment against defendant, Nicholas Cruz. Defendant Cruz is the innuant of half of an annuity, his share of which is worth over $400,000. The Brill and Rinaldi plaintiffs did not want defendant Cruz to have and be able to spend his share of the annuity. David Brill and Joseph Rinaldi, counsel for the Brill and Rinaldi plaintiffs, formulated a strategy to prevent that.

Try the defaulted cases against Cruz, secure judgment against him, and execute on his share of the annuity. Alex Reza, counsel for the Eresa plaintiffs, learned of the strategy and asked on behalf of the ERASA plaintiffs to be a part of it. The Brill and Rinaldi plaintiffs subsequently reached a verbal agreement with ERAZA plaintiffs to try their cases together, jointly secure Cruz's share of the annuity, and split it equally amongst the plaintiffs for each plaintiff to then distribute their share to a charity of the choosing. Now, ERAA ended up setting up a Zoom deposition with the shooter, which Brill attended as well. And the paperwork reads, at the end of the deposition,

David Brill asked Defending Cruz if he would agree to sign the annuity over to the families. Defendant Cruz said he agreed to do so. However, the filing reads, days later, Mr. Brill learned that Mr. Ereza and the Ereza plaintiffs had taken it upon themselves to enter into an independent settlement agreement with defendant Cruz. Brill also argued that there are already laws in place, there are already statutes in place that prevent criminals from profiting off of their crimes, from the shooter, from getting any sort of compensation for what he did. So the two attorneys, they sparred in court during a September hearing with a Florida judge about who gets what,

And the judge actually warned them, look, do not turn this into another spectacle that just brings more attention to what's already an incredibly painful memory for so many of these people. So in the end, what happened? Both sides, they reached a settlement. Just one day before the case was set to have a full-blown hearing with evidence and testimony. And under the agreement, survivors Anthony Borges and Maddie Wilford, as well as the families of slain students, Medopolic, Luke Hoyer, and Elena Petty, they will have. have control over the shooter's name and likeness, and each party will have veto power when it comes to things like the shooter doing interviews, and they will also split that annuity payment. By the way, this isn't the first time that victims' families, as well as survivors, have fought over money. You might recall that in 2021, a $25 million settlement was reached with Broward County schools,

and the families of the 17 people who were killed argued that Borges, he should get $1 less than they did, kind of as a symbolic way, as a gesture to say, hey, listen, we suffered more than you did. You may have been injured, seriously injured, but we lost loved ones. But Borges' attorney countered by saying, no, Borges needs $5 million of the total pot because he was going to have a lifetime of medical expenses. There was also another fight over another settlement, this one with the FBI. Now, victims and their families, they sued the FBI because they said it failed to investigate the shooter. This after a report came out that he was planning a mass casualty event, and the Borges reportedly ended up reaching their own settlements. In all, Anthony Borges had been

awarded more than $7 million in various settlements. And by the way, there is still a lawsuit pending against Scott Peterson, the one-time sheriff's deputy, who was at the school that day acting as a school resource officer. Family members of victims have accused Peterson of being a coward. Peterson was actually criminally charged. He was charged with felony child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury for not doing more that day. But a jury acquitted him last year. But in terms of the lawsuit, in terms of a civil case, the burden of proof is much lower, so we might see a different result, but no word yet on one that it will actually go to trial.

But with all of that in mind, I actually had the chance to sit down with criminal defense attorney Kasea Early, who actually lives in this area. KCia, so good to see you. First, before we even get into this whole money issue and publicity issue, this is a case that hits really close home close to home for you right absolutely uh this struck the community as a whole i am a resident of parkland my children attend uh all of the parkland school my son actually goes to margie stoman douglas so they're very uh familiar with the incident thankfully he wasn't there when that occurred six years ago but it definitely struck the community

hard uh in fact uh they just uh tore down the building after six years once in his criminal case concluded and, of course, the civil case and the settlement. Who do you think was right in this? Because here's the thing, right? This is a very emotionally taxing situation. And the last thing you want is litigation that, you know, in a way, for lack of better, re-litigates a lot of what's happening here. So you have one side that's saying, you know, we have as equal right as Mr. Boris to determine what should be the publicity rights of the shooter. we should have a share of the annuity. They worked on a settlement.

Who do you think was right before this settlement even came about? Yeah. I do agree with equal distribution, and here's why. There were 17 victims that were tragically murdered, and then you had the 17 additional victims that were injured in this case. You know, money doesn't solve the problem, and it doesn't make it better. But if there is going to be a settlement or rights to the use and likeness of Nicholas Cruz from preventing him from making any money in the future, from interviews, movies, books,

what have you. I do believe that the proceeds should be equally distributed because they all were affected. These are lifetime consequences. The families were affected. And even the students, we have teachers that presently attend Marjorie Stom and Douglas that were there doing that time. So the collateral consequences extend far beyond the victims and their families. But I do believe that there should have been equal distribution for anyone who wanted those funds. Those funds were agreed upon with the settlement and some of those proceeds will go to charity, but some of those proceeds will go to future medical expenses for some of the victims. Does that make it a difference? Mr. Borges is a surviving victim. It's a miracle that he survived. You look at him shirtless,

you see the gunshot wounds. Does he put in a different position, though, in the sense that one side would say he should receive less, I mentioned it before, less of the money because he's survived this incident versus other family members who lost loved ones. How do you weigh that whether or not he is entitled to more money or is entitled to more of the publicity rights in a way or in general because there's been multiple different kinds of legal settlements with respect to this shooting? Where do you place him as a survivor, an actual survivor of this versus others who lost loved ones. Yeah, it's kind of hard to quantify, right? Because just like you said, he nearly bled to death. Thank goodness, he received the proper medical treatment at the appropriate

time. And then you also have those who unfortunately lost their lives, given him more, given less because his life was spared. I don't think that that's a good way to quantify it. I just think that the best way is to look at the situation. And if the parties cannot come to an agreement, typically the agreement is during a mediation settlement where you have, have a mediator, listen to all sides, who's an independent, a mediator that has no, have no stake in the settlement proceeds and try to reason with all of the parties. But if you can't come to a reasonable settlement for or an amount, I do believe in this case, let it be equal because you can't say, you know, well, he's alive, so he should get less and I lost my child. I may not see my child again. I should get more. It's very difficult. It's a very touchy subject. but I'm glad they were able to come to a resolution.

And the fact that he has ongoing medical expenses, not only from the physical injuries that he suffered, but also the mental injuries, the mental trauma that he went through as well. Yeah, there's mental, physical, psychological, post-traumatic stress disorder. So there's a lot of counseling, I suspect that he'll have in the future.

And whether or not his insurance will pay for that, he will need those proceeds. So, you know, again, it's unfortunate that the situation happened but thankfully his life was spared final question to you the idea of owning the intellectual property rights of the killer and determining and they have equal power in terms of what story will be told what can be said about him have you ever seen anything like that what was your take on that yeah this is kind of unique because typically we see those mass murderers once they're convicted of a crime that they clearly committed,

they tend to profit off of their crime. And I do believe the laws need to change to benefit the victims. Because just because they're incarcerated, they should not then reap the double benefit of having a publicity or having additional income for something that you did. In this case, you broke the law. So I like the fact that the victims and the family of the victims are taken back control, taking back power.

Because think about it. Usually with these mass shootings, you always hear about the defendant. You hear about the shooter. Most of the news coverage will mention their names. And in fact, the victims are left with the detrimental effects of the shooter's actions. Casey, you're early. Thank you so much for coming on.

Really appreciate it. Thanks for happening. All right, everybody, that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next. time.

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