Nikolas Cruz

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.

El veredicto de los 12 miembros del jurado fue dado a conocer en una audiencia en la que familias de las víctimas de la masacre de Parkland estuvieron ...

El jurado decidió que pasará el resto de su vida tras las rejas. "¿Para qué tenemos la pena de muerte? algunos incluso salieron de la corte. Pero Cruz no estará entre ellos (salvo que la jueza decida lo contrario en su sentencia). La esposa e hijo de Christopher Hixon, un empleado de la secundaria que murió en el ataque, también estaban presentes. Este jurado le falló a nuestras familias hoy", dijo Fred Guttenberg, el padre de la estudiante Jaime Guttenberg. Se sienta un precedente hoy para el próximo asesinato en masa de que no pasa nada, habrá cadena perpetua. La defensa de Nikolas Cruz argumentó durante el juicio que el joven ha padecido problemas mentales desde niño. Irá a prisión y morirá en prisión y yo estaré esperando. Tony Montalto en particular, quien perdió a su hija Gina en el ataque, se mostraba muy disgustado. Para que hubiese sido condenado a muerte, debía haber una decisión unánime más allá de toda duda razonable. Un jurado en EE.UU.

Nikolas Cruz, el atacante de la masacre en Parkland en 2018, evitó la pena de muerte, luego de que el jurado recomendara sentenciarlo a cadena perpetua.

En los argumentos finales de este martes, los fiscales señalaron que la decisión de Cruz de ejecutar el tiroteo fue deliberada y cuidadosamente planeada. Cuando Cruz se declaró culpable, el juicio avanzó directamente a la fase de sentencia, en la que los jurados debieron decidir la pena que recomiendan. “Lo que quería hacer, cuál era su plan y lo que hizo, fue asesinar a los niños en la escuela y a sus cuidadores”, dijo el fiscal Mike Satz este martes. Su declaración de culpablidad llegó más de tres y años y medio después de la masacre, que marcó a una comunidad y generó un movimiento de protesta nacional masivo contra la violencia armada en las escuelas de EE.UU. Por su parte, los abogados defensores dijeron que Cruz tenía trastornos del desarrollo neurológico, derivados de la exposición prenatal al alcohol. Por su parte, los padres de Alyssa Alhadeff, de 14 años, manifestaron su "decepción" por la recomendación del jurado. En la misma línea, Tony Montalto, padre de Gina Montalto, de 14 años, cuestionó los hechos que el jurado valoró. En ese sentido, cuestionaron el propósito de la pena de muerte en el sistema legal de Florida si no era para aplicarla al caso del atacante de un tiroteo masivo. Los fiscales le habían pedido al jurado que sentenciara a pena muerte al atacante, ahora de 24 años, bajo el argumento en parte de que su crimen fue especialmente atroz y cruel. Ninguno de los miembros del jurado miró en dirección a las familias de las víctimas mientras se leían los veredictos. Las familias de las víctimas inclinaron o sacudieron sus cabezas mientras se leía el veredicto por cada una de las 17 personas que Cruz mató. Una decisión que sorprendió a las familias de las víctimas.

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.

Nikolas Cruz, quien mató a 17 personas en una secundaria de Florida en 2018, es sentenciado a cadena perpetua sin derecho libertad condicional luego de que ...

Dijo que eligió el Día de San Valentín para que los estudiantes de Stoneman Douglas no pudieran celebrar ese día nunca más. “Revisamos toda la evidencia y algunos miembros del jurado sintieron que esa era la sentencia apropiada”, dijo Thomas. Esto es una locura”, dijo Chen Wang, primo de Peter Wang, una de las víctimas, en una conferencia de prensa después de que se anunciara la decisión del jurado. Los murmullos aumentaban en la sala, donde había más de 30 padres, cónyuges y otros familiares de las víctimas, cuando se anunciaron las cadenas perpetuas. La jueza Elizabeth Scherer emitirá formalmente la sentencia el 1 de noviembre. Algunos padres de las víctimas sollozaron al salir de la corte.

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.

If ever there was a living embodiment of what some death penalty supporters call the “worst of the worst,” Nikolas Cruz seemed to be it.

[Florida law lists eight kinds of mitigating factors](http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0900-0999/0921/Sections/0921.141.html), including that “The capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his or her conduct or to conform his or her conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired.” The last of the eight factors is a general catchall which allows jurors great latitude. Take the case of Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people when he blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. [report](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/20/us/parkland-shooting-guilty-nikolas-cruz.html), “Mr. In Cruz’s case, three jurors [refused to vote for death](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/13/us/benjamin-thomas-jury-death-penalty.html) because they were convinced by his defense that he is mentally ill. (the families of his victims) as he hunched over a podium. poisoned in the womb. This horrific crime [was one of the deadliest school shootings in American history](https://www.statista.com/statistics/476381/school-shootings-in-the-us-by-victim-count/). [the death penalty landscape has changed considerably](https://www.vox.com/2020/12/30/22187578/death-penalty-united-states-executions-decline-gregg-georgia-bucklew-precythe). Cruz’s defense conceded that the crimes were indeed horrible. Michael Satz, the lead prosecutor, claimed that Cruz’s killings were cold blooded and meticulously planned. What happened, and why is the Cruz case different? The intensity of public support for capital punishment has waned and more states have abolished it in the last 15 years than in any other comparable period in American history.

El jurado de 12 miembros deliberó la fase de pena del juicio de Nikolas Cruz y no pudo ponerse de acuerdo por unanimidad sobre la sentencia de muerte.

En marzo de 2016, el estatuto fue enmendado para exigir que los jurados encuentren unánimemente cualquier circunstancia agravante que la fiscalía intente probar para que el acusado sea elegible para la pena de muerte. Craig Trocino, director de la Miami Law Innocence Clinic, se refirió a una decisión de la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos. – El jurado de 12 miembros deliberó la fase de pena del juicio de Nikolas Cruz y no pudo ponerse de acuerdo por unanimidad sobre la sentencia de muerte.

The jury recommend life in prison for Nikolas Cruz, who pleaded guilty to killing 17 in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

During that hearing, survivors of the shooting will get a chance to share their views on the verdict. [Cruz](https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/courts/2022/10/06/parkland-shooter-trial-nikolas-cruz-manipulates-sandy-hook-mother-expert-says/8194864001/), then 19 and now 24, pleaded guilty in 2021 to killing 17 people and wounding 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. She tapped the screen each time it went dark, looking at him as she awaited the verdict. "I pray that that animal suffers every day in jail. "This should have been the death penalty one hundred percent," said Alyssa's mother, Lori Alhadeff. "There are crimes for which the only just penalty is death," he said. I'm disgusted with the system," he said. [The Palm Beach Post is covering the daily Cruz trial](https://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/?q=Nikolas+Cruz) proceedings live. Jurors set a dangerous precedent by recommending life, he said. The eventual verdict was worse. "So I was very disappointed to see that." Victims' family members in the courtroom gallery scowled, shook their heads or wept as circuit judge Elizabeth Scherer read the recommendation Thursday.

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

Nikolas Cruz, el asesino confeso de 17 personas en la escuela secundaria Marjory Stoneman Douglas de Parkland, Florida, evitó la pena de muerte este jueves, ...

"Rezo para que el animal sufra todos los días de su vida en la cárcel", dijo. Luego fue arrestado por la policía a unos 3 kms de la escuela. El atacante tenía 19 años cuando ingresó en la escuela y abrió fuego con un rifle AR-15 comprado legalmente. En el incidente, 17 de ellas, 14 estudiantes y tres miembros del personal, fueron asesinadas. Fue el autor del tiroteo masivo más letal que haya llegado a juicio en EE.UU. Mientras se leía esta deliberación, Tony Montalto, quien perdió a su hija, Gina, sacudía la cabeza con frecuencia.

The death penalty was on the table, but the jury would've had to reach that decision unanimously.

He will be in the custody of the Broward County Sherriff's Office until then. What's next: Cruz will be officially sentenced to life without parole on Nov. 17 people were brutally murdered," said Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa Alhadeff, was murdered in the shooting. I'm devastated. I'm disgusted with those jurors. - "I'm disgusted with our legal system.

In opening statements of Nikolas Cruz's death penalty trial, his defense laid out their plan to persuade the jury to spare his life.

The defense argued that a sentence of life in prison without parole is sufficient to protect the public. “And I understood that if this is something that I felt that I believe that it needed to apply in my personal case and beyond,” he said. “I had to look deep into my values and say, is this something that connects with it? “I have never, ever, in my life seen an individual who has been affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol in which there is documentation, and I think pretty darn good documentation of alcohol exposure,” testified Dr. “Because Nikolas was bombarded by all of those things, he was poisoned in the womb. This means people completely opposed to the death penalty cannot serve. From an early age, Cruz had developmental delays and emotional and behavioral issues connected to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the defense argued. “There was one with a hard ‘no,’ she couldn’t do it, and there was another two that ended up voting the same way,” he said. “In telling you Nik’s story, in telling you the chapters of his life, we will give you reasons for life,” public defender Melisa McNeill said in opening statements. The decision to plead guilty came without any deal from the government of a lighter sentence. The defense’s first two witnesses testified that Brenda Woodard, Cruz’s birth mother, used drugs and drank alcohol while pregnant. “And that person is Nikolas Cruz.