US jury spares Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz from death penalty
- The gunman will instead spend life in prison without parole for killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018
- The jury found that mitigating factors, such as disorders said to stem from his mother’s substance abuse during pregnancy, outweighed aggravating factors
A Florida jury on Thursday decided to spare Nikolas Cruz, the gunman who killed 17 people in 2018 at a high school in the city of Parkland, from the death penalty, instead calling for life in prison without possibility of parole.
Some family members of victims shook their heads in the Fort Lauderdale courtroom as the jury rejected the prosecution’s request for the death penalty for Cruz in one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. Cruz, 24, showed little emotion while sitting at the defence lawyers’ table as the verdict was read.
Cruz pleaded guilty last year to premeditated murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 50km (30 miles) north of Fort Lauderdale. Cruz, who was 19 at the time of the crime and had been expelled from the school, used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 14 students and three staff members.
The jury found that mitigating factors, such as disorders described by witnesses as stemming from his biological mother’s substance abuse during pregnancy, outweighed aggravating factors.
The prosecution had argued that Cruz’s crime was premeditated as well as heinous and cruel, which are among criteria that Florida law establishes for deciding whether a death sentence should be imposed.