Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz sentenced to life in prison
10/13/2022 11:36 am PDT
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (TCD) -- A jury decided Thursday, Oct. 13, to sentence the Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz to life in prison over the death penalty.
The jury reached the decision Thursday morning after deliberating for hours on Wednesday, according to the Miami Herald.
Cruz’s death penalty trial lasted three months as prosecutors showcased Cruz’s plans to carry out the mass shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. His defense attorneys argued Cruz suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and untreated mental health issues, The Associated Press reports.
Family members of the Parkland shooting victims were "beyond disappointed" about the decision to sentence him to life.
According to The Associated Press, Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter died in the shooting, said at a news conference, "This should have been the death penalty, 100%. Seventeen people were brutally murdered on Feb. 14, 2018. I sent my daughter to school and she was shot eight times. I am so beyond disappointed and frustrated with this outcome. I cannot understand. I just don’t understand."
Another victim’s father said, "This jury failed our families today. Seventeen families did not receive justice," according to The New York Times.
Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor released a statement regarding the verdict and said the "world is a poorer and sadder place" without the 17 victims in it. He also thanked the jurors, prosecutors, courthouse staffers, families, and survivors.
Pryor said, "I thank everyone who worked to ensure that the whole truth — the full story — was told about this tragedy with full transparency. To my knowledge, this is the first time that the full story of a community’s loss and all of the relevant facts have been told about a mass shooting of this magnitude. We have not shied away from telling all of the horror, all of the loss, all of the devastation, all of the pain, all of the facts, all of the truth."
His statement continued, "We hope that, while there is no such thing as closure, this will bring some measure of finality and justice to this terrible chapter."
True Crime Daily The Sidebar Podcast delved into Cruz’s death penalty trial on several episodes, which you can check out below.
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