McNeill also laid out Cruz’s interactions with the public education system, which she said proved unable to address his issues.Ĭruz had developmental delays early in his childhood, including his difficulty communicating with others. McNeill called Cruz a “damaged and wounded” person and said attorneys plan to show the court disturbing things he said and wrote, his obsessions with guns and devils and even his school shooting “manifesto.” In opening statements Monday, McNeill laid out Cruz’s difficult family life, including his birth mother’s history of addiction and the death of his adoptive parents Lynda and Roger Cruz. Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Pool/AP Nikolas Cruz is shown at the defense table as attorney Melisa McNeill, left, and sentence mitigation specialist Kate O'Shea, right, speak during the penalty phase of his trial on Monday, Aug. Geography teacher Scott Beigel, 35 wrestling coach Chris Hixon, 49 and assistant football coach Aaron Feis, 37, also were killed, each while running toward danger or trying to help students to safety.ĭefense lays out Cruz’s difficult family life ![]() If jurors recommend Cruz be sentenced to death, they must be unanimous.įourteen of those killed were students: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14 Martin Duque Anguiano, 14 Nicholas Dworet, 17 Jaime Guttenberg, 14 Luke Hoyer, 15 Cara Loughran, 14 Gina Montalto, 14 Joaquin Oliver, 17 Alaina Petty, 14 Meadow Pollack, 18 Helena Ramsay, 17 Alex Schachter, 14 Carmen Schentrup, 16 and Peter Wang, 15. Prosecutors also led jurors on a trip to the untouched scene of the February 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Over three weeks in July and August, prosecutors argued Cruz was “cold, calculative, manipulative and deadly” in carrying out his attack and called to the stand a series of students, teachers, police officers and victims’ family members to bear witness to the horrific details of that day. Amy Beth Bennett/APįrozen in horror: Notes from inside the Parkland school massacre site Cruz waived his right to be present at the viewing. This during the penalty phase in the trial of confessed shooter Nikolas Cruz who previously plead guilty to all 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder. 4, 2022, to view the "1200 building," the crime scene where the 2018 shootings took place. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, while Cruz’s defense attorneys are asking the jury for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.Ĭourt deputies exit vans that transported jurors to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. ![]() The defense also called its first two witnesses, a woman who testified Cruz’s birth mother used drugs and alcohol while pregnant and Cruz’s sister, who described life with a “horrible mother.”Ĭruz pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, and the ongoing phase of his criminal trial is to determine his sentence. His attorneys deferred their initial opening statements, did not cross-examine any students or teachers who survived the shooting and asked only basic questions of other witnesses. ![]() It was the first time jurors have heard from Cruz’s defense. ![]() The comments were part of the defense’s opening statements in Cruz’s death penalty trial for the killing of 17 people and wounding of 17 more at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018. Because of that, his brain was irretrievably broken, through no fault of his own,” McNeill said. “Because Nikolas was bombarded by all of those things, he was poisoned in the womb. In particular, McNeill highlighted his birth mother’s abuse of drugs and alcohol during his pregnancy, saying Cruz showed signs from a young age of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Mitigation is any reason that you believe that the death penalty is not an appropriate penalty in this case.” “In telling you Nik’s story, in telling you the chapters of his life, we will give you reasons for life,” public defender Melisa McNeill said Monday in a Florida courtroom. An attorney for Nikolas Cruz asked jurors Monday to consider the Parkland school shooter’s dysfunctional family life and his serious mental health issues when they decide whether to sentence him to death.
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