On Thursday, a jury in Florida found a former student guilty of killing 17 people in the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. The Parkland shooter was sentenced to life in prison.
Nikolas Cruz, 24, carried out a six-minute shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day 2018, killing 14 students and three staff members. During the rampage, Cruz shot into several classrooms with an AR-15-style assault rifle and hurt 17 more people.
According to the ruling made by the circuit court judge Elizabeth Scherer, the sentencing of the defendant to life in prison without the possibility of release will take place at a hearing on November 1, after victim impact testimonies have been presented. The prosecution was requesting the death penalty for the defendant.
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The relatives of the victims are distressed.
The relatives of the victims are distressed.
After the decision was made public, people from the families of the victims went to the media to express their outrage and anger.
“The way our justice system works makes me sick to my stomach. I have nothing but contempt for those members of the jury, “said Ilan Alhadeff, the father of Alyssa Alhadeff, who was a victim in the incident. “that you can allow 17 people to die, along with 17 other people to be shot and injured, and not give the person the death penalty.
Why do we even have a policy that allows for the death penalty? What are you hoping to accomplish with it? You have established a standard today. You demonstrate to other mass murderers that they need not fear repercussions for their actions because you have not been punished. You’ll spend life in jail. I’m sorry, but it cannot pass muster. As a nation, we need to take a position and declare that what’s happening is unacceptable! ”
“I hope and pray that the animal spends every single day of his life locked up and in pain. And it is expected that he would live a brief life, “Alhadeff remarked.
Cruz was the perpetrator of the massacre that took place on Valentine’s Day in 2018. At the time, he was 19 years old and had already been kicked out of school. He entered the building of the school through a side door that was unlocked and then used a rifle in the manner of an AR-15 to murder 14 pupils and three members of the faculty, as well as hurt 17 other people.
Nikolas Cruz, the suspect in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, could face the death penalty.
Wednesday marked the beginning of the jury’s deliberate process. Towards the end of the previous day, the jury requested to view the murder weapon. According to the Associated Press, the panel announced on Thursday morning that it had reached a recommendation on a sentence, around 15 minutes after the jurors were given the opportunity to view the weapon.
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What happened last year
Cruz pleaded guilty to all charges in October 2018, admitting that he was the person who shot and killed 14 students and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Cruz entered a guilty plea to 17 charges of first-degree murder as well as 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder for the mass shooting he carried out.
The massacre that took place in Parkland, Florida, was the worst mass shooting to ever take place at a high school in the United States.
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The state’s attorneys pushed for a death sentence.
The prosecution actively pursued a death sentence against the defendant. Throughout his closing arguments on Tuesday, the lead prosecutor, Mike Satz, told the jury that Cruz had pursued his victims during his siege of the school. He said that Cruz had returned to some of those he had injured to shoot them again, and that he had killed others.
Satz said that the plan in question was “goal-directed,” “goal-calculated,” “purposeful,” and “a methodical murder.”
A jury will talk about whether or not to recommend that the Parkland shooter be put to death.
A Nationa jury will deliberate on whether or not to recommend the death sentence for the Parkland shooter.
Greg Allen of NPR has been telling people about the trial in Fort Lauderdale.
“During the course of the trial, which lasted for a total of six months, the jury listened to kids and instructors who had survived the shooting describe the incident. They were subjected to horrific testimony from medical examiners and were shown security tapes that showed Cruz firing into classrooms and corridors, killing some victims several times, Allen said.
The attorneys for Cruz offered testimony from counsellors and a doctor who said the defendant suffers from foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. This is a disease that they argued impacts Cruz’s cognition and conduct, and they suggested that it was due to the defendant’s drinking during pregnancy. Witnesses said that his biological mother, Brenda Woodard, had a problem with alcohol and cocaine use while she was pregnant with him.
In her final remarks, the attorney for Nikolas Cruz, Melissa McNeil, argued that her client is “now aware that you know that Nikolas is a brain-damaged, broken, mentally ill person, through no fault of his own.” “He was practically poisoned while still in Brenda’s womb,” said the doctor.
Nikolas Cruz said he was responsible for the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and pleaded guilty.
Nikolas Cruz has entered a guilty plea in connection with the shooting that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The Associated Press reports that Cruz’s rampage is the worst mass shooting that has ever been brought to trial in the United States. In previous incidents resulting in the deaths of 17 people or more, the perpetrator of the assault was either put down by law enforcement or took his own life. The individual suspected of opening fire in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, killing 23 people, is now awaiting trial.