PARKLAND, Fla. — An attorney for the brother of Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz said in court papers Thursday that a $500,000 bond for trespassing at the school is excessive and that the brother should be released from jail.
Lawyer Joseph Kimok said in the documents that 18-year-old Zachary Cruz already paid the standard $25 bond for a misdemeanor and should not be kept in custody.
"Zachary Cruz did not kill 17 people on a high school campus. He should not be treated as if he did," Kimok wrote. "There is no justice where the government seeks to hang a man for the crimes of his brother."
Zachary Cruz was arrested Monday while skateboarding on the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where authorities say his brother killed 17 people and wounded 17 others in the Valentine's Day massacre. Zachary Cruz had been warned not to visit the campus, but did so three times, authorities say.
Kimok also objected to several of the bond conditions imposed by a judge, including forcing Zachary Cruz to undergo a psychological evaluation, prohibiting him from visiting Broward County, putting him on house arrest with an ankle monitor if he is released, having the home he is living in searched for weapons and having no contact with Nikolas Cruz.
"To take away that familial connection is inhumane," Kimok wrote.
Zachary and Nikolas, 19, both attended Stoneman Douglas. They shared the same biological mother but had different fathers. Both were adopted at very young ages by Roger and Lynda Cruz. Lynda Cruz died in November and their father died some years earlier.
Associated Press writer Gary Fineout in Tallahassee contributed to this report.