In February 2018, Nikolas Cruz killed seventeen people at a Florida school. The prosecution asked for the death penalty, but the jury recommended life imprisonment. For the relatives, Cruz has won.
A mother holds a photo of her son Luke, who was killed in the 2018 Parkland shooting.
The jury’s verdict: Parkland shooter faces life imprisonment with no chance of pardon. Nikolas Cruz, 24, will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Four years ago, on Valentine’s Day 2018, Cruz killed seventeen people at his former school in the small town of Parkland, South Florida. Fourteen students, two teachers, one coach. In addition, Cruz injured another seventeen people. He fired 139 shots from the semi-automatic rifle that he had bought legally.
The prosecution and the victims’ parents called for the death penalty for Nikolas Cruz. When the verdict was announced, they reacted with shock and bewilderment. The final sentence is expected to be announced on November 1, but the judge cannot increase it.
incomprehension among relatives
Just a month after the shooting, then-Chief Prosecutor Michael J. Satz told reporters that the Parkland killing spree was exactly the type of case that deserved the death penalty. Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, was disappointed after the verdict was announced: “I just don’t think anything other than the death penalty is appropriate in this case.”
If a 17-times murderer doesn’t deserve the death penalty, who does? That’s the question asked by the families of the victims who spoke to journalists after the trial. The widow of the killed physical education teacher said to the New York Times: “What it tells me, my family and the other families is that his life means more than that of the seventeen murdered.”
Tony Montalto, the father of Gina Montalto, one of the victims of the Parkland shooting, speaks to reporters in the media room next to the courtroom.
Ten people have been executed in Florida since 2015. 338 people sentenced to death are in prison. In comparable cases, the question of the death penalty or imprisonment does not usually even arise. In the past, gunmen in the USA mostly committed their crimes themselves or were shot by the police.
An exception is the case of Charleston. A white man with right-wing extremist ideas killed nine black churchgoers in 2015. In 2017 he was sentenced to death. The suspected gunman who killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 has pleaded not guilty and is currently awaiting trial.
Nikolas Cruz managed to throw away his AR-15 and bulletproof vest and escape from the schoolhouse along with the survivors. The police arrested him a little later.
mental impairment
For seven hours on Wednesday, jury members debated whether Cruz’s death penalty was appropriate. Only if all twelve jury members are unanimous in favor can they recommend the death penalty. Three jurors reportedly opposed it. This, although everyone agreed that the death penalty was an option. In their cruelty, the deeds would have fulfilled the requirements for this. So far they agreed with the prosecution.
However, part of the jury was persuaded by the defense on a point that was crucial for them: Nikolas Cruz had a difficult childhood and is mentally handicapped.
Defendant Nikolas Cruz in the courtroom before the verdict was announced.
The biological mother drank heavily during pregnancy, smoked and consumed drugs. According to the defense, Cruz’s brain was damaged before birth. Cruz was raised by adoptive parents. The adoptive father died when Cruz was six years old. A year before the Parkland crime, he was expelled from school for aggressive behavior. A few months before the crime, the adoptive mother, an alcoholic, died. He was living with a foster family at the time he stormed the school with an AR-15.
For the victims’ families, Nikolas Cruz’s mental state is no reason not to sentence him to death. For them, Cruz won by jury verdict. The father of a killed girl told journalists after the court hearing: “The monster that killed her can live another day.” A mother who lost her son said: “The defendant has achieved his goal. He saw families suffer.”