Nikolas Cruz penalty trial verdict: Jury recommends life in prison without parole

Table Of Content

• Parkland shooter trial: $2.5M spent on housing Nikolas Cruz since 2018, sheriff's office says
• Alaina Petty's father: State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Parkland shooter should be put to death
• What will the Parkland shooter's living conditions be like in prison?
• $2.5 million spent on housing, supervising Cruz, sheriff's office says
• Ryan Petty said it was one juror who prevented the recommendation of the death penalty

Sam Fuentes, who was shot and survived the massacre in Parkland, directly addressed the shooter during her statement in court. Jennifer Guttenberg, the mother of Parkland victim Jaime Guttenberg, told the court that yesterday she put out a message that she wasn't going to speak at the hearing, but she changed her mind. She told the prosecutors that she thought their case was "flawless" and that they "proved every aggravating factor" at trial.

Parkland shooter trial: $2.5M spent on housing Nikolas Cruz since 2018, sheriff's office says

Head for Aquaventure at Atlantis on Paradise Island for a day of thrills on plunging waterslides. Or cruise to neighboring Pearl Island, Blue Lagoon Island, or Balmoral Island for kayaking, snorkeling, and even a chance to swim with friendly pigs. In stark contrast to the video attack, Cruz, shackled and in an orange jumpsuit, sat quietly throughout the 30-minute court appearance.

Alaina Petty's father: State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Parkland shooter should be put to death

The question facing jurors now was whether Cruz would spend the rest of his life in prison or be sentenced to death. A jury has recommended that the shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The parents of Marjory Stoneman geography teacher Scott Beigel, who was killed ushering students to safety in the Parkland school shooting, echoed the sentiment of other parents outside court today, saying the gunman should have been sentenced to death. After a Florida jury recommended life without the possibility of parole on all counts against Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz, public defender Gordon Weekes said it's important to respect the jury's decision. Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced Nikolas Cruz to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Wednesday after a Florida jury last month failed to reach a unanimous decision on the death penalty in his penalty phase trial. Because the jury at his penalty trial could not unanimously agree on a death sentence, Scherer can only sentence the killer to life in prison without parole — an outcome most of the families criticized.

What will the Parkland shooter's living conditions be like in prison?

Members of the Broward County Sheriff's Department then escorted Cruz out of the courtroom. The chosen facility is determined by “reviewing the seriousness of (the inmate’s) offenses, length of sentence, time remaining to serve, prior criminal record, escape history, prison adjustment, and other factors,” according to the Florida Department of Corrections website. A two-day hearing is scheduled to begin Tuesday that will conclude with Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer formally sentencing Nikolas Cruz for his Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. According to the motion, the cost of housing Cruz from Feb. 14, 2018, to Oct. 26, 2022, when the motion was filed, totaled $321,659.

Family members of the victims were visibly emotional, some shaking their heads and others wiping tears. Judge Elizabeth Scherer read through the verdict forms — a total of 17, one for each victim. "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. "Now, we gotta keep going, and we gotta keep living. And we have to work our best to find our peace. We don't want to let the defendant take more from us than he's been taking during all this time," she said. "This is something that we have to digest. we need to live with this new reality." Weekes declined to comment when he was asked if Cruz had a reaction to the decision today.

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting at a high school in U.S. history. The shooting came at a period of heightened public support for gun control that followed mass shootings in Paradise, Nevada, and in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in October and November 2017. Fred Guttenberg, father of 14-year-old Parkland school shooting victim Jaime, called on Broward County Public Defender Gordon Weekes to resign on Wednesday.

This should have been the death penalty 100%,” said Lori Alhadeff, who has a “Live for Alyssa” tattoo on her arm. Following the verdict, Alyssa's parents denounced the jury's recommendation. Lori Alhadeff, the mother of Alyssa Alhadeff, dropped her head into her hand as the verdict related to her daughter was read.

The jury's decision to spare Cruz's life left many of the victims' families angry and in tears. Prosecutors had argued that Cruz planned the shooting for seven months before he slipped into a three-story classroom building, firing 140 shots with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle down hallways and into classrooms. Cruz said he chose Valentine's Day so it could never again be celebrated at Stoneman Douglas. FORT LAUDERDALE — The gunman who murdered 17 people at a Parkland high school nearly five years ago has spent the last nine weeks in the custody of the Florida of Corrections. To jury members who voted against the death penalty, she said, "They have to live with that in their conscience. Life is about karma. They will remember what they did when the time comes." He has not decided if he'll go to court on Nov. 1 when victims are given the opportunity to read statements.

Oliver's mother, Patricia, said the family was not expecting this decision and added that the families of victims and the entire community of Parkland and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are suffering. The jury returned identical answers on aggravating and mitigating circumstances for each of the 17 counts and the same findings and recommendation for every victim. Victims and family members are expected to speak before the sentence is delivered.

"The deliberations were very tense and some jurors became extremely unhappy once I mentioned that I would vote for life," Cunha wrote. "I'm disgusted with those jurors, I'm disgusted with the system, that you can allow 17 dead and 17 others shot and not get the death penalty," he said. "What do we have the death penalty for? What is the purpose of it? You set a precedent today."

Do it all or nothing at all – that’s the beauty of a Bahamas cruise with Norwegian. The video was played by prosecutors in court Wednesday at Cruz’s first in-person court appearance since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The Nov. 13, 2018, video has no audio, but the accused killer is seen giving the officer the finger before lunging at him and wrestling him to the floor while swinging at him. Cruz, who is charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is seen walking in circles in the jail cafeteria, according to footage posted on YouTube by Law & Crime.

"I assure you you will not be famous for this," Fuentes said to Cruz, adding that those who died in the massacre "will have a legacy much more important than you." Gonzalez spoke while wearing Oliver's t-shirt that he wore the night before he was killed, which read, in Spanish, "You with bullets, I with balls." Weekes had criticized some of Tuesday's testimony for verbally attacking defense lawyers, and claimed that the defendant's lawyers were just doing their jobs as the law provides criminal defendants a right to legal representation.