A 12-person jury is in the throes of deliberating the fate of the Parkland, Florida, school shooter who killed 17 people and injured 17 others. The jury will recommend either life in prison or sentence the shooter to death.
Nikolas Cruz has been on trial for months for killing 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. Attorneys delivered their closing arguments for the case yesterday. A jury must vote unanimously to recommend the death penalty, which many of the victims' parents are hoping will be the case. Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg told Newsweek that he believes there is a "better than even chance" the jury will sentence Cruz to death.
The jury must vote unanimously on only one aggravating factor to sentence Cruz to death and weigh that aggravating factor against mitigating factors presented by the defense, such as implications the shooter was subjected to fetal alcohol abuse. Prosecutor Mike Satz presented several aggravating factors to the jury throughout the trial that would qualify the shooter for the death penalty, such as the crime being particularly heinous and cruel; being cold, calculated and pre-meditated; and being committed against a public official, such as a teacher, among others.
Aronberg told Newsweek in the past, jurors seem more likely to invoke the death penalty when a child is murdered. A death penalty conviction is challenging, and Aronberg said in the past 20 years, Palm Beach County has only been successful in one death penalty conviction, despite seeking the death penalty five or six times a year. In that case, Marlin Joseph was sentenced to death for the murder of Kaladaa Crowell and her 11-year-old daughter Kyra Inglett.
"When it comes to murdering children, that seems to be a line jurors don't want a defendant to cross," Aronberg said. "That's why I think there's a good chance Nikolas Cruz gets the death penalty here. To not impose the death penalty after someone slaughters 17 innocents, with most of them being children, then when does it ever get imposed?"
Jury members received instructions on their deliberations Wednesday morning and will be sequestered until they arrive at a decision, which could take days. Even if the jurors unanimously recommend the death penalty, the judge could choose to sentence the shooter to life in prison instead, but Aronberg said there is a "zero percent chance" the judge will spare the shooter if the jury votes for death. If the jurors decide to sentence the shooter to death, he will join 330 other death row inmates awaiting execution at Florida State Prison.
Since 1976, 99 inmates have been executed on Florida's death row, including several serial killers like Ted Bundy, Gary Bowles and Aileen Wuornos. It takes years for a death row inmate to be executed, as their attorneys exhaust every appeal process before execution. Aronberg said this delays closure for the families of the victims.
"It could be years [before execution] which is very frustrating for the families involved because they want closure and they have to endure years of appeals," Aronberg said. "That's why the judge is being very careful in her rulings to ensure that this case will not be overturned on appeal and the prosecutors won't have to do it again."
If the jury sentences the shooter to life in prison, Aronberg said the defense cannot appeal the sentencing.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
