Florida school shooter to get life sentence, after jury can’t agree on death penalty

By AP 13 October 2022, 6:52 pm

Edit

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz leans against a wall waiting to be escorted from the courtroom as the jury resumes deliberations in the penalty phase of his trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on October 13, 2022. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 murder of 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, after the jury says that it could not unanimously agree that he should be executed.

The jury’s recommendation came after seven hours of deliberations over two days, ending a three-month trial that included graphic videos, photos and testimony from the massacre and its aftermath, heart-wrenching testimony from victims’ family members and a tour of the still blood-spattered building.

Under Florida law, a death sentence requires a unanimous vote on at least one count. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will formally issue the sentence later.

Cruz, his hair unkempt, largely sat hunched over and stared at the table as the jury’s recommendations were read. Rumblings grew from the family section — packed with about three dozen parents, spouses and other relatives of the victims — as life sentences were announced. Many shook their heads, looked angry or covered their eyes.