Nikolas Cruz

The sentence caps an emotional three-month trial in which victim relatives and survivors recounted the 2018 Valentine's Day massacre in painful detail.

Fourteen students and three staff members were killed in the rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day in 2018.

Cruz's rampage is the deadliest mass shooting to go to trial in the U.S., according to The Associated Press. A previous version of this story said Cruz has been sentenced to life in prison. Late that day, the jury asked to see the murder weapon. "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. Prosecutors had pushed for the death sentence. "That you can allow 17 dead and 17 others shot and wounded and not give the death penalty. Following the jury's recommendation, prosecutors requested that those who were victims of Cruz be allowed to present testimony about the crime and what they see as the appropriate sentence. The jury unanimously found that there had been aggravating factors in the murders Cruz committed. The question facing jurors now was whether Cruz would spend the rest of his life in prison or be sentenced to death. You set a precedent for the next mass killing, that nothing happens to you. He entered a school building through an unlocked side door and used an AR-15-style rifle to kill 14 students and three staff members, as well as wound 17 others. Cruz carried out the massacre on Valentine's Day in 2018.

A Florida jury on Thursday recommended Nikolas Cruz—the gunman who killed 17 students and teachers in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High ...

One YouTube video published by a user named Nikolas Cruz said “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.” The trial in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, opened in July, nine months after Cruz pleaded guilty, with former teachers and students, including some who were injured in the attack, [recounting](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/07/19/they-heard-something-they-never-heard-beforeparkland-shooting-victims-give-harrowing-testimony-at-sentencing-trial/?sh=5dffd9e37ed4) the attack as students ran for safety. Those disorders led to the shooting, she claimed, asking the jury “in a civilized society, do we kill brain damaged, mentally ill, broken people?” 14, 2018, with a semi-automatic military-style AR-15 rifle, with which he opened fire on his former classmates. Cruz, a former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, walked into the school on Feb. Social media posts, journal entries and YouTube videos released over the following days showed Cruz, a former U.S. A Florida jury on Thursday recommended Nikolas Cruz—the gunman who killed 17 students and teachers in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after a three-month trial to determine whether Cruz faces a life sentence or the death penalty.

A non-unanimous Florida jury has returned a verdict of life without parole for Nikolas Cruz , the teen offender convicted of killing 17 people in the…

“As a result, you are far less likely to be sentenced to death today than if the trial took place in the 1990s,” he said. He wants the gunman to live.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/27/parkland-school-shooting-trial-death-penalty/), Washington Post, September 27, 2022. about the death penalty have shifted tremendously” since death sentencing peaked in the United States 25 years ago. He said his anger was directed less at Cruz and more at the systemic failures to prevent the shooting. In closing arguments, defense attorney Melisa McNeill described Cruz as “a brain damaged, broken, mentally ill person, through no fault of his own.” She asked the jury, “in a civilized humane society, do we kill brain damaged, mentally ill, broken people?…I hope not.” His Democratic Party opponent, former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, tweeted, “There are crimes for which the only just penalty is death. Victims’ family members who were present at the verdict reacted with shock and anger at the verdict. “I just don’t think anything else is appropriate except a capital sentence in this case,” he said. Prosecutors had rejected a defense offer in 2019 for Cruz to plead guilty and be sentenced to 34 consecutive life sentences. The trial revealed differences of opinion among the victims’ families and community members about the appropriate punishment for Cruz. The jury foreman, Benjamin Thomas, told Florida law, like that of nearly every death-penalty state, requires a unanimous jury verdict before a death sentence may be imposed.

The Florida jury members have reached a verdict in the Parkland school shooting trial. The accused, Nikolas Cruz, had pleaded guilty to killing 17 people ...

The recommendation of the jury members would be made public by 10:30 AM local time. However, the jury's recommendation for the death sentence should be unanimous. The views expressed here are that of the respective authors/ entities and do not represent the views of Economic Times (ET). The 12-member jury consisted of five women and seven men and had two choices; either they could recommend a death sentence or life in prison without the chance of parole. While prosecutors seek capital punishment for [Nikolas Cruz](/topic/nikolas-cruz), the jury has to decide whether the shooter should be sentenced to death or life in prison. [Florida](/topic/florida), on October 13, reached a verdict in the trial of the gunman in [Parkland](/topic/parkland)school shooting, Nikolas Cruz.

Jurors on Thursday recommended life in prison without parole for Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The massacre is the deadliest mass shooting that has gone to trial in the United States, according to the Associated Press. McNeill urged jurors to consider Cruz’s history of mental illness in rendering their decision, and argued that Cruz should be given a life sentence instead of the death penalty. “It is the right thing to do,” McNeill said of a life sentence. During that hearing, survivors of the shooting will get a chance to share their views on the verdict. [Jurors recommend life sentence for Nikolas Cruz] [Jurors' decision comes more than four years after the Valentine’s Day shooting in Parkland, Florida — the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. Relatives, along with the students and teachers Cruz wounded, will be given the opportunity to speak at the sentencing hearing. She tapped the screen each time it went dark, looking at him as she awaited the verdict. "This should have been the death penalty, 100%," said Alyssa's mother, Lori Alhadeff. I'm disgusted with the system," he said. The 12-person jury came to a decision after seven hours of deliberations over two days, ending a three-month trial where stories of the victims' execution were retold in graphic detail. The eventual verdict was worse.] Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Cruz.

FORT LAUERDALE -- Prosecutors have filed a motion with the Broward County court asking Judge Elizabeth Scherer to compel law enforcement officers to ...

The jury rejected the death penalty after deliberating for about seven hours over two days. "The State did not call Juror X back and instead, filed a Notice to the Court." "The deliberations were very tense and some jurors became extremely unhappy once I mentioned that I would vote for life." This is insane," Chen Wang, cousin of shooting victim Peter Wang, said at a news conference after the jury's decision was read. "We need justice." "This is insane.