Suspect in NYC truck attack that killed 8 found guilty in terror trial Sayfullo Saipov, an Uzbek native who drove...
Read More
From left; Abby Hoyer, Tom and Gena Hoyer, and Michael Schulman react during the reading of jury instructions in the penalty phase of the trial of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter Nikolas Cruz at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. The Hoyer’s son, Luke, and Schulman’s son, Scott Beigel, were killed in the 2018 shootings. Abby Hoyer is Luke Hoyer’s sister. Cruz previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder in the 2018 shootings. (South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP, Pool)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A jury said Thursday that it has reached a decision on whether to recommend that Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz be executed for the 2018 massacre that killed 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
The recommendation was not immediately released and came in the second day of deliberations, 15 minutes after jurors arrived and examined the gun Cruz used.
The decision promises an end to 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.
The jury’s decision must be unanimous if it intends to recommend the death penalty, and if that happens, it will be up to Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer to make a final decision. If all jurors can’t agree on recommending death, then Cruz would get life in prison.
The jury of 12 people had asked late Wednesday to see the AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, but the Broward County Sheriff’s Office security team objected, even though the gun has been made inoperable and Cruz’s ammunition would be removed from the jury room.
Lead prosecutor Mike Satz, who has more the five decades of experience, pointed out that in every murder case he has tried or knows, jurors got to examine and handle the weapon in their room — and he said a knife or machete is more dangerous than a gun without a firing pin. Security has never been an issue, he said.FLORIDAFlorida reports largest, single-day increase in COVID casesKelly, Napier get 1st taste of often-wild LSU-Florida seriesNo. 4 Clemson seeks seventh straight win over Florida St.Sheriff: Bulletproof vest saved Florida deputy shot in chest
Cruz’s attorneys had no objection to jurors seeing the gun.
Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty a year ago to murdering 14 students and three staff members and wounding 17 others on Feb. 14, 2018. Cruz said he chose Valentine’s Day to make it impossible for Stoneman Douglas students to celebrate the holiday ever again. The jury will determine only if Cruz is sentenced to death or life without parole. For Cruz to get a death sentence, the jury must be unanimous.
During the prosecution’s rebuttal case, Satz and his team argued that Cruz’s smooth movements with the gun and his ease in reloading helps show he does not have any neurological disorders, as claimed by his attorneys.
Lead defense attorney Melisa McNeill and her team have never disputed that Cruz committed a horrible crime, but they say his birth mother’s excessive drinking during pregnancy left him with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and put him on a path that led to the shooting.
The massacre is the deadliest mass shooting that has ever gone to trial in the U.S. Nine other people in the U.S. who fatally shot at least 17 people died during or immediately after their attacks by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in the 2019 massacre of 23 at an E l Paso, Texas, Walmart is awaiting trial.
Latest News:
Suspect in NYC truck attack that killed 8 found guilty in terror trial
Texas silent after Guard member shoots migrant on border
Ukraine war moves ‘Doomsday Clock’ to 90 seconds to midnight
In reversal, US poised to approve Abrams tanks for Ukraine
Suspect in shootings at Northern Calif. farms was employee
Shooter stood over California mom holding baby, killed both
Ukraine helicopter crash kills interior minister, others
US divided over Roe’s repeal as abortion foes gird for march
Family of 6 including baby shot to death in California
Lisa Marie Presley dies at 54 after hospitalization
Justice Dept. enters political fray with 2 special counsels
Guitar legend Jeff Beck dies suddenly at age 78
House Republican Leadership Press Conference
‘What madness looks like’: Russia intensifies Bakhmut attack
California storms persist with deluges, mudslide threats
'Ukraine can count on the UK to provide support' - Rishi Sunak
TTP challenges Pakistan's sovereignty, declares own government
Ukraine claims hundreds of Russian soldiers killed by missile attack
Japan and South Korea put new focus on militaries as security concerns increase
McCarthy falls short in first speaker vote, 2nd round begins
‘Prophet of Doom’ to plead guilty in Brooklyn subway attack
1st tanker carrying LNG from US arrives in Germany
UPDATE on Florida Lawsuit Against Governor DeSantis Over the Dissolution of Disney’s Reedy Creek Dis...
Idaho college murders suspect arrested: Who is Bryan Kohberger?
Iran tests military drones in wargame near Strait of Hormuz
Rep. Gonzales: There is nothing normal about this situation
Deputy would still be alive if judge had ‘done her job,’ Riverside County sheriff says
Suspect killed after leading authorities on pursuit in Riverside County
Why Putin spends hundreds of millions on knocking out Kyiv’s grid for eight hours
Southwest Airlines flight cancellations continue to snowball
border crisis Border Security Department of Homeland Security Illegal immigration Law National Guard Texas Top News United States United States Border Patrol US Army
Texas silent after Guard member shoots migrant on border
A U.S. Border Patrol agent walk up to a new section of the border wall before the arrival of Acting...
Read More
Ukraine war moves ‘Doomsday Clock’ to 90 seconds to midnight
Siegfried Hecker, from left, Daniel Holz, Sharon Squassoni, Mary Robinson and Elbegdorj Tsakhia with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,...
Read More
In reversal, US poised to approve Abrams tanks for Ukraine
FILE - A soldier walks past a line of M1 Abrams tanks, Nov. 29, 2016, at Fort Carson in Colorado...
Read More
Suspect in shootings at Northern Calif. farms was employee
Police tape from the San Mateo Country Sheriffs office mark the perimeter of the scene of a shooting, after a...
Read More
Shooter stood over California mom holding baby, killed both
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux speaks during a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, in Visalia, Calif., about the victims...
Read More
Family of 6 including baby shot to death in California
Six people — including a 17-year-old mother and her 6-month-old baby — were killed in a shooting early Monday at a home...
Read More
