Prospective jury members arrived Monday at a Florida courthouse where they could be selected to help decide the fate of Nicolas Cruz after he killed 17 people in the deadliest high school shooting in American history .
Cruz, now 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of murder and attempted murder for the 2018 Valentine's Day shooting at Parkland's Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, which saw a mass gun-operated by juvenile survivors of the tragedy. Inspired a nationwide movement against violence. and the families of the victims.
Prosecutors want the death penalty for Cruz, who faces at least life in prison. In states with the death penalty, a defendant convicted of a capital offense has to face a separate stage of court proceedings to determine the sentence.
Following Cruz's guilty pleas, a 12-member jury is now being empaneled for the penalty phase, to decide whether to recommend his execution. Six to eight options are also to be chosen, the judge said during a hearing last week.
Proceedings could last four to six months, both sides told State Judge Elizabeth Scherer on Wednesday. Prosecutors and defense attorneys are expected to present evidence of aggravating factors and mitigating circumstances that could determine whether Cruz has been sentenced to death. Jury members could also hear victim impact statements from the victims and the victims' families.
“There were 17 people killed, so there is a story of 17 deaths,” Assistant State Attorney Jeff Marcus told the court, explaining why the penalty phase could remain in the fall. "And then there are 17 more who are considered to be aggravating factors in the case."
Jurors would have to unanimously agree that at least one aggravating factor—including concurrent capital felony charges of which Cruz pleaded guilty, or whether he intentionally caused the risk of other deaths—exists among the 34 charges. , then begin discussing whether he should face the death penalty.
If this happens, they should be unanimous in recommending the death penalty, otherwise his sentence would essentially be life imprisonment. If they recommend the death penalty, the final decision is still with the judge.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Cruz confessed to police shortly after the shooting, but then pleaded not guilty. His lawyers later said that if prosecutors took the death penalty off the table, he would switch his pleas to guilty, but he never did. Nevertheless, he changed his position to guilty in all 34 cases, setting the stage for the penalty phase.
14 students and 3 faculty members killed
On the afternoon of February 14, 2018, Cruz, then 19-year-old who had been expelled from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, took an Uber to her former high school, according to an outline of the events that prosecutor Michael Saitz reported on October 20. heard during The hearing at which Cruz pleaded guilty. Satz said Cruz had an AR-15-style rifle and a rifle bag with a backpack containing firearms magazines and a tactical vest.
When he arrived, Cruise walked into the high school's three-story 1200 building, stepped into the east stairwell and began loading rifles. As he did so, a student ran into the ladder, Saitz said.
According to the prosecutor, Cruz told the student, "You better leave here." "Something bad is about to happen."
Around 2:21 a.m., Cruz opened fire in the hallway, Saitz said, shooting at students and teachers in hallways and classrooms as they made their way through the building and through each floor. At one point, dust moving from bullets to roof tiles set off the building's fire alarm, sending students and teachers out of classrooms and into hallways.
Among those killed were 14 students: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Martin Duke Anguano, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Jaime Gutenberg, 14; Luke Hoyer, 15; Kara Lofran, 14; Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex Schachter, 14; Carmen Shentrup, 16; and Peter Wang, 14.
Geography teacher Scott Beigel, 35; wrestling coach Chris Hixon, 49; And assistant football coach Aaron Fee, 37, was also killed - each while running toward danger or trying to help protect students.
After shooting, Cruise put down his weapon, remaining magazines, and his tactical vest and fled at 2:27, blending in. Along with other students, Satz said. He was arrested that afternoon about 3 miles from the school.
At the October plea hearing, Cruz responded "guilty" to each of those 34 charges before addressing the victims and their families in a brief statement in court.
"I'm so sorry for what I did," he said, partly, "and I have to live with it every day."
However, Cruz's apology did little to comfort the parents of a slain student, who called it "ridiculous."
"I think he deserves the same chance he gave my daughter and everyone else on February 14 of 2018," said Gina Montalto's father, Tony Montalto, when Cruz was set to face the death penalty. asked about.
Cruz has already been sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting a prison guard in November 2018.
Crores reward to the families of victims in civil cases
The effects of the shooting reached far beyond Parkland, a small Florida town about 50 miles north of Miami. In the weeks that followed, survivors and relatives of victims spoke and confronted lawmakers demanding more action to address gun violence in American schools.
Students across America joined him, staged their protests and walked out of the school. The movement came to an end just a month after the massacre with the March for Our Lives as hundreds of thousands of protesters taking part in hundreds of marches across the country called for gun control reform. "Never Again," became the rallying cry of the protesters.
While the full impact of the movement is hard to measure, a year after the massacre, at least 67 new laws aimed at gun safety were enacted in 26 states, said at the time by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
But according to CNN, there have been about 130 recorded school shootings on US campuses with K-12 students since Parkland.
Still, the activism inspired by the Parkland shooting persists. Last month, on the fourth anniversary of the March for Our Lives in Washington, activists of the organization "thought and prayed" on the National Mall using more than 1,100 body bags, CNN affiliate WJLA reported. In gun-related deaths since Parkland, the organization said every represented life has been lost.
And civil cases brought by the families of Parkland victims have been resolved. The US Justice Department settled 40 civil cases stemming from the shooting for $127.5 million, it said in a statement last month, adding the settlement "does not amount to an acceptance of fault by the United States." The FBI acknowledged that after the shooting it failed to act on a tip about "(Cruise's) ability to organize school shootings," among other concerns.
Broward County Public Schools, the district that includes Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, announced in December that it would pay more than $26 million to 51 plaintiffs, including the families of those injured and the families of 17 people.
"While we recognize that no amount can make these families whole, it is the school board's hope that this agreement will show our heartfelt commitment to the MSD families, students, staff and faculty, and the entire Broward County community," said the District's head of state. Interim general counsel said.
Meanwhile, Broward County Sheriff's Deputy Scott Peterson, a school resource officer criticized for failing to confront Cruz during the shooting, pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the mass shooting, including felony counts. are also included. A trial is scheduled for September.