Jury reaches verdict in Nikolas Cruz death penalty trial

Jurors have ruled that Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz should be sentenced to life in prison for the 2018 Florida mass shooting that killed 17 people in one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.

Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year. He used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 14 students and three staff members.

The prosecution had argued during the three-month sentencing trial that Cruz’s crime was both premeditated and heinous and cruel, which is one of the criteria Florida law sets for deciding on a death sentence.

Cruz’s defense team had acknowledged the seriousness of his crimes, but asked the jurors to consider mitigating factors, including lifelong mental illness resulting from his birth mother’s substance abuse during pregnancy.

Under Florida law, a death sentence could only have been handed down if jurors had unanimously recommended that he be executed. The only other option was life in prison.

Reuters initially reported that the jury recommended the death penalty for Cruz, but issued a correction shortly after.

After news broke that the jury had reached a decision in the Nikolas Cruz trial, several teachers who survived the Parkland school shooting were able to send their students to other classrooms a few minutes before it was due to be read so that they could could watch together, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School told CNN.

These teachers watch the news together in a classroom in the school.

The verdict comes after the trial concluded earlier this week in which the prosecutor portrayed Cruz as a calculating and brutal murderer, while his lawyer argued that he is really just a broken, brain-damaged child doomed in the womb by the death of his birth mother. . alcohol and drug use during pregnancy.

During their six-hour deliberation on Wednesday, the jurors first requested a rereading of two testimonies and then, just before the court was adjourned for the day, requested to see the AR-15 that Cruz used in the shootings.

There was objection from the Broward Sheriff’s Office to providing the gun to the jury, for “security reasons,” but just before day two of Thursday’s deliberations began, it was decided that the gun would be displayed without the firing pin.

The weapon, which Cruz legally purchased in 2017, was shown to the jury during witness statements earlier in July.

Broward Sheriff’s Sgt. Gloria Crespo previously testified that Cruz, then 19, still had five rifle magazines in the vest, containing a total of 160 bullets. He had fired more than 100 shots as he walked through the three-story building for seven minutes, firing through hallways and classrooms.

The judges were also shown photos Crespo took of the bodies of five students and a teacher who died on the third floor, all with multiple injuries from being shot at close range.

The jurors deliberated for about six hours on Wednesday and asked them to read the prosecution’s cross-examination of a defense psychologist who says Cruz suffers from a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

At the end of the day, they asked to take another look at the AR-15.

Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said the Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies told her they couldn’t give it to the jury for “security reasons,” so this was “above” her “pay scale,” and she would stay in her lane.

Chief Prosecutor Michael Satz objected, saying he had seen this happen in many previous cases, even calling the situation “ridiculous” and “ridiculous.”

At the beginning of Thursday, it was decided that the jury would see the weapon without a firing pin.

The Cruz massacre is the deadliest mass shooting ever brought to trial in the US. Nine other people in the US who fatally shot at least 17 people died during or immediately after their attacks by suicide or police gunfire.

The judges are locked up during their deliberations, which can last for hours or days. They have been told to pack for at least two nights.

Final arguments from both sides were closed earlier this week with the prosecution – which demands the death penalty – portraying Cruz as a calculating and brutal murderer. Meanwhile, Cruz’s lawyer pleaded for mercy and the only other option: life in prison.

Cruz said he started thinking about committing a school shooting when he was in high school, about five years before committing the Valentine’s Day tragedy. He said he chose Valentine’s Day to make sure it would never be celebrated in school again.

Almost exactly a year before the eruption, he bought his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, and his planning got serious about seven months in advance as he researched past mass shooters and said he was trying to learn from their experience.

During the closing arguments on Tuesday, lawyers from both sides testified for three months in a final attempted death sentence or life sentence.

The prosecution and defense found that his attack in 2018, which killed 17 people, was horrific, but disagreed in their closing arguments as to whether it was an act of malice that should be executed or one of a broken person who should be given a life sentence. locked up.

Chief Prosecutor Mike Satz and his defense counterpart Melisa McNeill painted for the 12 jurors pictures of the trigger for Cruz’s attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland on Valentine’s Day 2018.”

Under Florida law, a jury must be unanimous in its decision to order a judge to sentence Cruz to execution.

The criminal trial began in July and includes testimonials from survivors of the shooting, as well as videos from cellphones showing terrified students calling for help or speaking in whispers while hiding.

The defense called for witnesses to testify about Cruz’s mental disorders as a result of his birth mother’s substance abuse during pregnancy.