Parkland Shooter Nikolas Cruz Is Recommended To Serve Life In Prison

(CTN News) – Nikolas Cruz; The jury has recommended that the shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, be sentenced to life without parole.

Nikolas Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty last year to 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder. Now jurors had to decide whether Cruz would spend the rest of his life in prison or die.

There has to be unanimous agreement among the 12 jurors to impose the death penalty.

Nikolas Cruz murders were unanimously found to have aggravating factors. However, at least one juror decided that for each murder, aggravating factors did not outweigh mitigating circumstances, so a life sentence was recommended instead of the death penalty.

After about an hour of reading verdict sheets, it could be hard for observers to tell what the jury decided.

The jury recommended a life sentence for Cruz instead of the death penalty and several people in the courtroom shook their heads in disbelief.

Victims’ families are upset

Family members of the victims expressed anger and frustration after the verdict.

Alyssa Alhadeff’s father, Ilan Alhadeff, said, “I’m disgusted with our legal system. I’m disgusted with those jurors.” I don’t understand why we have the death penalty if you can leave 17 dead and 17 shot and wounded.

I pray that animal suffers every day in jail. And he should live a short life,” Alhadeff said.

The massacre happened on Valentine’s Day in 2018. He was 19 and expelled from school at the time. Using an AR-15-style rifle, he shot 14 students and three staff members, and wounded 17 others.

The prosecutors wanted the death penalty

Prosecutors wanted the death penalty. Prosecutor Mike Satz told jurors that Nikolas Cruz hunted his victims during his siege of the school, shooting some of them again and killing them.

Satz said the plan was systematic, calculated, and goal-directed.

Greg Allen covers the trial for NPR.

As the trial went on for six months, jurors heard what it was like for students and teachers. “They heard graphic testimony from medical examiners and saw surveillance videos showing Cruz shooting at some victims repeatedly,” Allen said.

Counselors and doctors testified for Nikolas Cruz defense, saying he suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, a condition that affects his reasoning and behavior. He was born to Brenda Woodard, who abused alcohol and cocaine while she was pregnant.

Cruz’s lawyer, Melissa McNeil, said in closing arguments that Nikolas Cruz is a brain-damaged, broken, mentally ill man. It was like he was poisoned in Brenda’s womb.”

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