A 12-person jury ruled to recommend a life sentence, and not the death penalty, for the Parkland school shooter on Thursday. Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will issue the formal sentencing against Nikolas Cruz based on the jury’s recommendation on Nov. 1.
Cruz pled guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in October 2021 after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018 — the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. high school. Cruz killed 14 students and three staff members.
The verdict was read on the second day of jury deliberation, marking the end to a three-month trial filled with graphic video, photos, and testimony of the shooting and from family members.
Family members were visibly dismayed at the reading of the 17 counts of first-degree murder after the jury did not find that his actions warranted the death penalty. The jury unanimously decided that the aggravating factors did not outweigh the mitigating circumstances that the defense brought up during the trial.
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There was no trial after Cruz pled guilty, so the court went directly to sentencing. The hearing for the death penalty began in April with jury selection and opening statements in July.
The defense abruptly rested their case in September, despite only presenting 25 of the 80 planned witnesses.
Scherer called the decision “the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case.” In response, Cruz’s counsel filed a motion to disqualify Scherer, but she dismissed the motion.
During closing arguments on Tuesday, the prosecution argued that Cruz’s actions were calculated and premeditated, per CNN.
“What he wanted to do, what his plan was and what he did, was to murder children at school and their caretakers,” lead prosecutor Michael Satz said. “The appropriate sentence for Nikolas Cruz is the death penalty.”
However, the defense said Cruz’s lifetime of struggles in both home and school should prevent him from receiving the death penalty.
Defense attorney Melisa McNeill said Cruz “is a brain damaged, broken, mentally ill person, through no fault of his own.”
“And in a civilized humane society, do we kill brain damaged, mentally ill, broken people?” McNeill said. “Do we? I hope not.”
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The sentencing will be pushed to Nov. 1 at 9 a.m. to allow the prosecution to bring victims forward to testify and potentially persuade Scherer to give Cruz the death penalty.
