OXFORD, Mich. – A lawyer explains why revealing all the facts before a trial can jeopardize a case or taint a jury pool.
Neil Rockind, criminal defense lawyer, expresses the importance of not revealing all of the facts before a trial so there isn’t as much confusion or anger in a case.
“How does the armed guard, which is important, how does that play into the guilt or lack thereof of Ethan or the parents? It doesn’t. It certainly plays a role in whether the district has culpability,” said Rockind.
Previous coverage: Oxford High School security guard thought shooting was a drill, attorney states
On Wednesday attorneys representing some of the victim’s families amended a lawsuit against Oxford Community School officials.
Attorneys say surveillance video shows an armed security guard walking past one of the victims who’d been shot. According to attorneys, the security guard opened the bathroom door where the alleged gunman and Justin Shilling were in but did not go inside.
“There’s almost no reason I can think of for the district to not have released the info to the parents,” said Rockind.
Since the mass shooting in November the district has been hit with several lawsuits alleging a lack of accountability and transparency.
“The way that this has all unfolded, with the amount of info that’s been released, it begins to reside a level of distrust,” said the legal expert. “I can see it, you can feel it just fermenting.”
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