Parkland

Parkland School Shooter Trial Has Begun in Florida

The trial to decide if Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to the death penalty started with the prosecution’s open arguments. Cruz pleaded guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder in connection to the 2018 mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The victims consisted of 14 students and 3 teachers.

The televised trial is anticipated to last between 4 to 6 months.

Attorneys representing the now-23-year-old are looking for a sentence of life in prison while the state prosecution will advocate for the death sentence.

Throughout his opening argument on July 18, state district attorney Mike Satz explained Cruz as”cold, calculative, manipulative and deadly.”

“I’m going to speak to you about the unspeakable,” Satz told the jurors who will determine Cruz’s sentence. “All 17 were heinous, atrocious and cruel… All 17 were cold, calculated, manipulative and deadly.”

Satz kept in mind that Cruz fired 139 shots on Feb. 14, 2018– 70 on the very first flooring of the high school, two in the west stairwell, six on the 2nd floor, and 61 on the 3rd flooring.

“A cellphone video that was seen by the jury but only heard by the public in the courtroom gallery included many gunshots, an alarm going off, and many people screaming. Several people left the courtroom when they heard it,” reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Throughout a second video that consisted of the noises of heavy shooting at a high volume, a family of among the victims screamed from the gallery, “Shut it off!”

Melisa McNeil, among Cruz’s defense lawyer, then moved for a mistrial. She declared the incident would bias the jury versus her customer. Her movement was rejected.

Satz stated a timeline of Cruz’s activities prior to, throughout, and after the shooting. He informed the jury that there are 7 aggravating elements that raise Cruz’s criminal offense to require capital punishment.

“These aggravating factors far outweigh any mitigating circumstances, anything about the defendant’s background, anything about his childhood, anything about his schooling, anything about his mental health, anything about his therapy, anything about his care,” Satz said.

Former teachers and students from Marjorie Stoneman Douglass High School affirmed throughout the trial’s first day, recounting the story of the shooting.

The jury did not hear an opening declaration from Cruz’s defense group. The lawyers decided to postpone their declaration till they start providing their case in the following weeks.

“It wasn’t clear if anyone was present to support Cruz, who sat at the defense table between his attorneys. He mostly looked down at a pad of paper with a pencil in his hand, but he did not appear to write,” reports Fox News. “At times, he would look up to stare at Satz or the jury, peer at the audience or whisper to his lawyers.”

The trial is occurring in Fort Lauderdale at the Broward County Courthouse in front of Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Scherer. This is Scherer’s very first capital punishment case. The jury includes seven men and five women with ten alternates.

At the end of the trial, the jury will vote 17 times– one for each victim– on whether Cruz must be sentenced to death. Each count needs to get a unanimous to sentence Cruz to death. Cruz will be sentenced to life in prison for all 17 counts of murder if the jury breaks on any one of the charges.

The trial was set up to start in 2020 however was postponed due to a series of legal difficulties, the COVID-19 pandemic, and 3 months of jury choice.

H/T Timcast

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