Nikolas Cruz

Fourteen students and three staff members were killed in the rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day in 2018.

Cruz's rampage is the deadliest mass shooting to go to trial in the U.S., according to The Associated Press. A previous version of this story said Cruz has been sentenced to life in prison. Late that day, the jury asked to see the murder weapon. "You now know that Nikolas is a brain-damaged, broken, mentally-ill person, through no fault of his own," Cruz's lawyer, Melissa McNeil, stated in closing arguments. Prosecutors had pushed for the death sentence. "That you can allow 17 dead and 17 others shot and wounded and not give the death penalty. Following the jury's recommendation, prosecutors requested that those who were victims of Cruz be allowed to present testimony about the crime and what they see as the appropriate sentence. The jury unanimously found that there had been aggravating factors in the murders Cruz committed. The question facing jurors now was whether Cruz would spend the rest of his life in prison or be sentenced to death. You set a precedent for the next mass killing, that nothing happens to you. He entered a school building through an unlocked side door and used an AR-15-style rifle to kill 14 students and three staff members, as well as wound 17 others. Cruz carried out the massacre on Valentine's Day in 2018.

The jury recommend life in prison for Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty to killing 17 in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

During that hearing, survivors of the shooting will get a chance to share their views on the verdict. [Cruz](https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/courts/2022/10/06/parkland-shooter-trial-nikolas-cruz-manipulates-sandy-hook-mother-expert-says/8194864001/), then 19 and now 24, pleaded guilty in 2021 to killing 17 people and wounding 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. She tapped the screen each time it went dark, looking at him as she awaited the verdict. "I pray that that animal suffers every day in jail. "This should have been the death penalty one hundred percent," said Alyssa's mother, Lori Alhadeff. "There are crimes for which the only just penalty is death," he said. I'm disgusted with the system," he said. [The Palm Beach Post is covering the daily Cruz trial](https://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/?q=Nikolas+Cruz) proceedings live. Jurors set a dangerous precedent by recommending life, he said. The eventual verdict was worse. "So I was very disappointed to see that." Victims' family members in the courtroom gallery scowled, shook their heads or wept as circuit judge Elizabeth Scherer read the recommendation Thursday.

A non-unanimous Florida jury has returned a verdict of life without parole for Nikolas Cruz , the teen offender convicted of killing 17 people in the…

“As a result, you are far less likely to be sentenced to death today than if the trial took place in the 1990s,” he said. He wants the gunman to live.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/27/parkland-school-shooting-trial-death-penalty/), Washington Post, September 27, 2022. about the death penalty have shifted tremendously” since death sentencing peaked in the United States 25 years ago. He said his anger was directed less at Cruz and more at the systemic failures to prevent the shooting. In closing arguments, defense attorney Melisa McNeill described Cruz as “a brain damaged, broken, mentally ill person, through no fault of his own.” She asked the jury, “in a civilized humane society, do we kill brain damaged, mentally ill, broken people?…I hope not.” His Democratic Party opponent, former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, tweeted, “There are crimes for which the only just penalty is death. Victims’ family members who were present at the verdict reacted with shock and anger at the verdict. “I just don’t think anything else is appropriate except a capital sentence in this case,” he said. Prosecutors had rejected a defense offer in 2019 for Cruz to plead guilty and be sentenced to 34 consecutive life sentences. The trial revealed differences of opinion among the victims’ families and community members about the appropriate punishment for Cruz. The jury foreman, Benjamin Thomas, told Florida law, like that of nearly every death-penalty state, requires a unanimous jury verdict before a death sentence may be imposed.

If ever there was a living embodiment of what some death penalty supporters call the “worst of the worst,” Nikolas Cruz seemed to be it.

[Florida law lists eight kinds of mitigating factors](http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0900-0999/0921/Sections/0921.141.html), including that “The capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his or her conduct or to conform his or her conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired.” The last of the eight factors is a general catchall which allows jurors great latitude. Take the case of Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people when he blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. [report](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/20/us/parkland-shooting-guilty-nikolas-cruz.html), “Mr. In Cruz’s case, three jurors [refused to vote for death](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/13/us/benjamin-thomas-jury-death-penalty.html) because they were convinced by his defense that he is mentally ill. (the families of his victims) as he hunched over a podium. poisoned in the womb. This horrific crime [was one of the deadliest school shootings in American history](https://www.statista.com/statistics/476381/school-shootings-in-the-us-by-victim-count/). [the death penalty landscape has changed considerably](https://www.vox.com/2020/12/30/22187578/death-penalty-united-states-executions-decline-gregg-georgia-bucklew-precythe). Cruz’s defense conceded that the crimes were indeed horrible. Michael Satz, the lead prosecutor, claimed that Cruz’s killings were cold blooded and meticulously planned. What happened, and why is the Cruz case different? The intensity of public support for capital punishment has waned and more states have abolished it in the last 15 years than in any other comparable period in American history.

The jury has reached a decision in Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz's death penalty case.

"Prior to the shooting the Parkland murderer said he wanted to kill 20 people. When asked if he was relieved he didn't have to see Cruz in court anymore, he responded, "It doesn't matter. Our justice system should have been used to punish this shooter to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. But I will tell you: The monster is gonna go to prison, and in prison, I hope and pray, he receives the kind of mercy from prisoners that he showed to my daughter and the 16 others. It certainly sends the wrong message,” he continued. … He will die in prison, and I will be waiting to read that news on that.”

Jurors on Thursday recommended life in prison without parole for Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The massacre is the deadliest mass shooting that has gone to trial in the United States, according to the Associated Press. McNeill urged jurors to consider Cruz’s history of mental illness in rendering their decision, and argued that Cruz should be given a life sentence instead of the death penalty. “It is the right thing to do,” McNeill said of a life sentence. During that hearing, survivors of the shooting will get a chance to share their views on the verdict. [Jurors recommend life sentence for Nikolas Cruz] [Jurors' decision comes more than four years after the Valentine’s Day shooting in Parkland, Florida — the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. Relatives, along with the students and teachers Cruz wounded, will be given the opportunity to speak at the sentencing hearing. She tapped the screen each time it went dark, looking at him as she awaited the verdict. "This should have been the death penalty, 100%," said Alyssa's mother, Lori Alhadeff. I'm disgusted with the system," he said. The 12-person jury came to a decision after seven hours of deliberations over two days, ending a three-month trial where stories of the victims' execution were retold in graphic detail. The eventual verdict was worse.] Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Cruz.

FORT LAUERDALE -- Prosecutors have filed a motion with the Broward County court asking Judge Elizabeth Scherer to compel law enforcement officers to ...

The jury rejected the death penalty after deliberating for about seven hours over two days. "The State did not call Juror X back and instead, filed a Notice to the Court." "The deliberations were very tense and some jurors became extremely unhappy once I mentioned that I would vote for life." This is insane," Chen Wang, cousin of shooting victim Peter Wang, said at a news conference after the jury's decision was read. "We need justice." "This is insane.

In opening statements of Nikolas Cruz's death penalty trial, his defense laid out their plan to persuade the jury to spare his life.

The defense argued that a sentence of life in prison without parole is sufficient to protect the public. “And I understood that if this is something that I felt that I believe that it needed to apply in my personal case and beyond,” he said. “I had to look deep into my values and say, is this something that connects with it? “I have never, ever, in my life seen an individual who has been affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol in which there is documentation, and I think pretty darn good documentation of alcohol exposure,” testified Dr. “Because Nikolas was bombarded by all of those things, he was poisoned in the womb. This means people completely opposed to the death penalty cannot serve. From an early age, Cruz had developmental delays and emotional and behavioral issues connected to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the defense argued. “There was one with a hard ‘no,’ she couldn’t do it, and there was another two that ended up voting the same way,” he said. “In telling you Nik’s story, in telling you the chapters of his life, we will give you reasons for life,” public defender Melisa McNeill said in opening statements. The decision to plead guilty came without any deal from the government of a lighter sentence. The defense’s first two witnesses testified that Brenda Woodard, Cruz’s birth mother, used drugs and drank alcohol while pregnant. “And that person is Nikolas Cruz.

Jurors recommended life in prison for the Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz Thursday after the final vote for the death penalty was not unanimous.