Parkland trial live updates: Cruz spared death penalty, grieving parents react
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Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz has been spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison by a Florida jury for carrying out the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that claimed 17 lives.
MORE: Closing arguments conclude, jury to decide Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz’s fate
Cruz pleaded guilty last year to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection to the Feb. 14, 2018, killing of 14 students and three staff members at his former school. Among the victims were 15-year-old Peter Wang, an Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet who died while helping classmates escape, and 35-year-old Scott Beigel, a geography teacher who was shot dead while shepherding students to safety in his classroom.
This penalty phase trial was to determine if Cruz would be sentenced to death or life in prison for the massacre he committed at age 19. The jury’s decision must be unanimous for the death penalty.
Latest Developments Oct 13, 12:45 PM Fred Guttenberg: ‘Jury failed our families’
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the massacre, said after court, “I’m not often stunned, but I am stunned by this verdict today.”
“I could not be more disappointed,” he said.
“I don’t know how this jury came to the conclusions that they did,” he said.
“This decision today only makes it more likely that the next mass shooting will be attempted,” he said.
Guttenberg said he thinks the next mass shooter is planning his attack now, and “that person now believes that they can get away with it.”
“There are 17 victims that did not receive justice today,” Guttenberg said. “This jury failed our families today. But I will tell you: The monster is gonna go to prison, and in prison, I hope and pray, he receives the kind of mercy from prisoners that he showed to my daughter and the 16 others. … He will die in prison, and I will be waiting to read that news on that.”
Oct 13, 12:38 PM Victim’s dad: Cruz ‘did not deserve compassion’
Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter, Gina, was killed, called the jury’s decision a “gut punch.”
“Pressing the barrel of his weapon to my daughter’s chest. That doesn’t outweigh [that Nikolas Cruz] had a tough upbringing?” Montalto said.
“Society has to really look and reexamine who and what is a victim. Not everyone’s a victim. My beautiful Gina. the other sons, daughters, spouses and fathers — they were the victims here. Our justice system should have been used to punish this shooter to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “Not as an act of revenge, but to protect our nation’s schools.”
“I think that it puts all school children in jeopardy. It certainly sends the wrong message,” he continued. “This shooter did not deserve compassion.”
Oct 13, 12:22 PM Dad of slain 14-year-old: Cruz ‘got everything he wanted’
Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son Alex was killed, tweeted that Nikolas Cruz “got everything he wanted” with the life sentence verdict.
“Prior to the shooting the Parkland murderer said he wanted to kill 20 people. He stopped after killing 17 including my sweet little boy Alex. Afterwards he didn’t want to die,” Schachter tweeted.
Meanwhile, “Our loved ones are in the cemetery.”
Oct 13, 12:35 PM Parents of 14-year-old victim: ‘I pray that animal suffers’
Ilan Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was killed, was disappointed by the life sentence.
He told reporters after the verdict that Nikolas Cruz is “not a human being — he’s an animal.”
“I pray that animal suffers every day of his life in jail. And that he has a short life,” he said.
When asked if he was relieved he didn’t have to see Cruz in court anymore, he responded, “It doesn’t matter. We still have to go to the cemetery to see our daughter.”
Alyssa’s mother, Lori Alhadeff, added, “What is the death penalty for if not for the killing of 17 people?”
Video: ‘I’m beyond disgusted’: Parkland parents react to verdict
Oct 13, 12:04 PM Nikolas Cruz spared death penalty
Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz has been spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison by a Florida jury for carrying out the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that claimed 17 lives.
On all 17 counts, the jury found that aggravated factors did not outweigh the mitigating factors.
Mitigating factors presented at trial included arguments by Cruz’s attorneys that he suffered lifelong developmental delays that traced back to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
Cruz will return to court on Nov. 1 when surviving victims will be able to read statements.
Oct 13, 11:18 AM Judge reads verdict forms
Judge Elizabeth Scherer read the 17 documents, one for each slain victim, aloud to the court on Thursday morning as prosecutors, Nikolas Cruz and his attorneys, and the victims’ families looked on.
So far, jurors have recommended life in prison without parole. The jurors weighed aggravating factors and mitigating factors, and jurors found that the aggravating factors did not outweigh mitigating factors.
Victims’ families are visibly upset in the courtroom.
Oct 13, 9:54 AM Victims’ parents share emotional statements with jury
Victims’ parents took the stand during the trial to read emotional victim impact statements.
Fred Guttenberg, who lost 14-year-old daughter Jaime, said on the stand, “I couldn’t wait to teach her drive. … I couldn’t wait to see her graduate. I couldn’t wait to see her achieve her dream of getting into the University of Florida and rooming with her cousin and living her best life. I couldn’t wait to see her graduate and ultimately become a pediatric physical therapist, working her dream job.”
MORE: Parkland families read statements through tears at penalty phase of gunman’s trial
“Jaime imagined she’d be married by 25. I used to think every day about that moment and walking my daughter down the aisle. Becoming a grandparent to the two kids she already decided she was gonna have,” he said.
“What if Jaime wasn’t murdered? What would these moments end up being like?” Fred Guttenberg said. “Not a day goes by where the constant image of Jaime walking down the aisle is not still a part of my daily imagination. Along with that image of what should have been her future, our future together.”
Oct 13, 9:47 AM Defense says Cruz suffered lifelong developmental delays, prosecution says he planned ‘systematic massacre’
Cruz’s defense attorneys had urged the jury to sentence him to life in prison. The defense admitted Cruz was responsible for his actions and planned the school shooting, but argued Cruz suffered lifelong developmental delays that traced back to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
“Sentencing Nikolas to death will change absolutely nothing,” defense attorney Melisa McNeill said in closing arguments. “It will not bring back those 17 innocent victims that he viciously murdered.”
The prosecution, arguing for the death penalty, told jurors that Cruz researched previous mass shootings and planned a “systematic massacre.”
MORE: Parkland school shooting 4 years later: Remembering the 17 victims
“Some of the remarks the defendant wrote on his YouTube were: ‘No mercy, no questions, double tap. I’m going to … murder children. … I’d love to see the families suffer,'” prosecutor Michael Satz said in closing arguments.
“He’s thinking ahead,” Satz said, by “not only looking to inflict pain” on the victims, but also “anticipating how that pain, fear and death … is gonna affect the families.”
